Mobile robot localization. Revisiting the triangulation methods

Abstract

Localization is one of the fundamental problems in mobile robot navigation. In this context, triangulation is used to determine the robot pose from landmarks position and angular measurements. The method based on circle intersection is the preferred one because it is independent of the robot heading. Nevertheless, it becomes undetermined when the robot point is on the circumference that contains the landmarks used. To cope with it, a triangulation method based on straight lines intersection is presented in this paper. The robot heading angle, which is needed in this method, can be accurately determined by means of a geometrical procedure. The accuracy of the presented approach is evaluated and compared to that of alternative methods by means of experimental results and computer simulations.