Development of the Autonomous Mobile Robot for Target-Searching in Urban Areas in the Tsukuba Challenge 2013

This paper describes a navigation method for autonomous mobile robots and the knowledge obtained through trial runs conducted during the Tsukuba Challenge 2013 whose main tasks were autonomous navigation by robots to a goal and searching for target persons in several urban areas. Accurate maps are an important tool in localization on complex courses. We constructed occupancy grid map making method using laser scanners, gyro-assisted odometry and a DGPS. In trial runs, robots detect target parsons two ways – one involving color detection in images and the other involving laser scanner intensity data. The major problem with these methods is misdetection. To minimize this, we mask areas in which target persons should not exist on occupancy grid maps. Target candidates detected in masked areas are rejected, which indicates the possibility of using accurate occupancy grid maps as a user-friendly graphical interface. This paper focuses on the localization method, the target detection method and autonomous navigation knowledge in common space through the challenge.