Developing fusion strategy of ultrasonic and omnidirectional data for on-line maze mapping

Mapping is one of typical tasks carried out by an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR). Unknown maze is a good example for mobile robot to exercise its ability to perform mapping task. Other fields also need this application such as in exploring an unknown environment such as dessert, forest, new setup building, etc. When performing an exploration task, AMR normally is equipped with ranging sensors to scan its surrounding condition and communication facility to continuously report its finding to the computer control system. Ultrasonic sensor is often used to monitor the surrounding condition but it mainly detects its current position which is considered late in some certain situations. Meanwhile omnidirectional sensor is other type of sensor that is capable of providing advanced information of robot environment. When ultrasonic data and omnidirectional data are combined then the speed to carry out mapping task may become faster and more reliable. This research introduces the basic strategy in implementing data obtained from omnidirectional sensor to an AMR equipped with ultrasonic sensor.