Automatic mapping and localization of a tour guide robot by fusing active RFID and ranging laser scanner

This paper presents a mapping and global pose localization method for a tour guide robot in indoor environments by fusing measurements from an active radio-frequency-identification-device (RFID), one odometric device and a ranging laser scanner. RFID is adopted to quickly initialize the robot´s global configuration by recognizing tags in the environment. Mapping is accomplished automatically by using a laser scanner and active RFID which is adopted to initialize tour guide robot´s initial posture in real time. Numerous experimental results are provided to show the effectiveness and merits of the proposed mapping and localization systems.