Low cost indoor mobile robot localization system

In this paper a low cost mobile robot localization system that uses the popular Wii remote control (WiiMote) is presented. Both, the WiiMote and a specialized IR light source are located on top of the robot pointing upwards. The IR light is reflected on retroreflective tags located on the ceiling of the robot working area. Two solutions that depend on the working environment, amount of tags needed and robot characteristics are presented. The first solution is deterministic and more restrictive in the quality of sensor data and number of tags. The second solution is a stochastic solution that integrates dead-reckoning information and IR tag readings using a particle filter. The cost of the onboard localization device, including the WiiMote is less than $50 while each tag costs less than $0.05. The system has been tested on a real mobile robot system used for security and surveillance tasks.