Kinematics Calibration and Validation Approach Using Indoor Positioning System for an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot

Monitoring and tracking issues related to autonomous mobile robots are currently intensively debated in order to ensure a more fluent functionality in supply chain management. The interest arises from both theoretical and practical concerns about providing accurate information about the current and past position of systems involved in the logistics chain, based on specialized sensors and Global Positioning System (GPS). The localization demands are more challenging as the need to monitor the autonomous robot’s ongoing activities is more stringent indoors and benefit from accurate motion response, which requires calibration. This practical research study proposes an extended calibration approach for improving Omnidirectional Mobile Robot (OMR) motion response in the context of mechanical build imperfections (misalignment). A precise indoor positioning system is required to obtain accurate data for calculating the calibration parameters and validating the implementation response. An ultrasound-based commercial solution was considered for tracking the OMR, but the practical observed errors of the readily available position solutions requires special processing of the raw acquired measurements. The approach uses a multilateration technique based on the point-to-point distances measured between the mobile ultrasound beacon and a current subset of fixed (reference) beacons, in order to obtain an improved position estimation characterized by a confidence coefficient. Therefore, the proposed method managed to reduce the motion error by up to seven-times. Reference trajectories were generated, and robot motion response accuracy was evaluated using a Robot Operating System (ROS) node developed in Matlab-Simulink that was wireless interconnected with the other ROS nodes hosted on the robot navigation controller.