Improved laser-based navigation for mobile robots

An autonomous mobile system can operate as a service robot in various environments. In many man-made environments like buildings, there exist a lot of glass panes, such as windows, doors and glass walls. This can make robotic tasks more complicated, since one of the most popular sensor systems, namely laser range finders, face problems with measuring distances correctly when hitting glass surfaces. In this paper, the behavior of a laser scanner with respect to glass surface is modeled using a probabilistic approach. This sensor model is employed to improve mapping and localization of a mobile robot in an office environment. Both of the applications have been tested with a real robot.