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Robust Navigation by Probabilistic Volumetric Sensing
This project is no longer active.
Head: Hans Moravec
Contact: Hans Moravec (hpm@andrew.cmu.edu)
Mailing address:
Carnegie Mellon University
Robotics Institute
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Associated center: FRC
For more information, see this project's homepage.
Ours is a 100% effort to develop laboratory prototype sensor-based software for utility mobile robots for industrial transport, floor maintenance, security etc., that matches the months-between-error reliability of existing industrial robots without requiring their expensive worksite preparation or site-specific programming. Our machines will navigate employing a dense 3D awareness of their surroundings, be tolerant of route surprises, and be easily placed by ordinary workers in entirely new routes or work areas. The long-elusive combination of easy installation and reliability should greatly expand cost-effective niches for mobile robots, and make possible a growing market that can itself sustain further development.