Robust scan matching localization using ultrasonic range finders

The work presented in this paper deals with scan matching localization using ultrasonic range sensors. Our contribution resides in the extension of ICP based algorithms to be used with ultrasonic sensor data. This extension consists of a pre-process step, where ultrasonic sensor readings are grouped to overcome their sparseness, and a post-process step, where the whole robot trajectory involved in the grouping process is corrected. Thanks to that a great improvement with respect to odometry is obtained. Experimental results show that even huge odometric errors are corrected with the presented method.