Mobile Robots Navigation, Control and Sensing, Surface Robots and AUVs

Abstract

A number of experiences and acquaintances have contributed to this project. TheCountermineBranchoftheScience Division of the Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), United States Army played a particularly impor tant role through its sponsorship of related research. This research effort had as its objective the detection and geo-registration of landmines through the use of vehicular mounted sensors. The nature of the problem required that a broad set of tools be brought to bear. These required tools included a vehicle model, sen sor models, coordinate transformations, navigation, state estimation, probabi listic decision making, and others. Much of the required technology had previously existed. The contribution here was to bring together these particular bodies of knowledge and combine them so as to meet the objectives. This led to several interesting years of interaction with NVESD and other researchers in this area of applied research. Afterwards, it was realized that the work could be cast in a more general framework, leading to a set of notes for a second-year graduate course in Mobile Robots. A course on modern control and one on random processes are the required prerequisites. This course was taught several times at George Mason University, and numerous revisions and additions resulted as well as a set of problems at the endof each chapter. Finally, the notes were organized more for mally with the result being the first edition of this book. I would like to express my appreciation to some of the individuals who have influenced and encouraged me in the writing of this book. These include Kelly Sherbondy, my research sponsor at NVESD, former colleague Guy Beale, departmentchairmanAndreManitius,former student Patrick Kreidl, industrial associate Bill Pettus, collaborator at the Naval Research Laboratory Jay Oaks, former students Smriti Kansal and Shwetha Jakkidi who were part of the NVESD project, and the many other students who have attended my classes and provided me with inspiration over the years. Gerald Cook