Mantha, B R K and Garcia De Soto, B (2022) Investigating the fiducial marker network characteristics for autonomous mobile indoor robot navigation using ros and gazebo. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 148(10): 04022115, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Building service robots rely on dense instrumentation of the building (e.g., Bluetooth beacons) or require high computational capabilities [e.g., simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)]. To overcome these limitations, studies explored a landmark-based localization and navigation approach based on inexpensive, computationally efficient, and easily configurable fiducial markers (e.g., AprilTags). However, context-specific assumptions were made regarding the fiducial marker characteristics and sensor configurations. Taking this forward, this study develops a generalized simulation-based approach to determine the optimal design characteristics of the fiducial marker network to achieve successful autonomous mobile indoor robot navigation with low instrumentation and computation. Different marker and camera parameters such as marker size and marker placement to optimize the density of fiducial markers (i.e., the ideal distance between subsequent markers) were investigated using Robot Operating Systems (ROS) and Gazebo (simulator) software. The simulation experiments focused on a specific robotic platform (i.e., TurtleBot3) and marker type (i.e., AprilTag). Results from the simulations suggested that with an increase in marker distance, the navigation success rate does not necessarily decrease. In addition, a marker size of 0.1 m performed the best in terms of navigation success rate (as high as 100% for a specific combination of marker height, marker size, and marker-to-marker distance). Future work aims to test this in a real-world setting to compare and analyze the simulated and actual performance of the robot. The proposed methodology is generic and can be applied to any mobile robotic platform, marker type, building type (e.g., residential), and application (e.g., construction progress monitoring).
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | facility management; fiducial markers; gazebo; indoor localization; mobile robot navigation; robot operating systems; service robots |
| Index terms: | placement, methodology, mapping, progress monitoring, computation, configuration, simulation experiment, instrumentation, density, building service, platform, localization, marker |
| Subjects: | management, research methods, spatial and geospatial analysis, probability and distributions, digital design, project controls, systems engineering, computational methods, engineering systems, urban planning, modelling and simulation, analytical methods |
| Topics: | Governance, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Time Control, Human Resources, Urban Studies, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here