Guaranteed 3-D mobile robot localization using an odometer, an automatic theodolite and indistinguishable landmarks

Deals with the determination of the full 3-D position and spatial orientation of a mobile robot from six azimuth and elevation angle measurements provided by an automatic theodolite. Stochastic approaches have already proved to be interesting for navigation algorithms, but they require a reliable initial estimation of the vehicle posture. Computing this initial posture without any a priori knowledge is not a straightforward mathematical exercise, especially if the landmarks are indistinguishable. In the paper, interval analysis is used to design a robust solution to this issue.