Scouting algorithms for field robots using triangular mesh maps
Lifang Liu · University Library - University of Saskatchewan (University of Saskatchewan) · 2007
Labor shortage has prompted researchers to develop robot platforms for agriculture field scouting tasks.Sensor-based automatic topographic mapping and scouting algorithms for rough and large unstructured environments were presented.It involves moving an image sensor to collect terrain and other information and concomitantly construct a terrain map in the working field.In this work, a triangular mesh map was first used to represent the rough field surface and plan exploring strategies.A 3D image sensor model was used to simulate collection of field elevation information.A two-stage exploring policy was used to plan the next best viewpoint by considering both the distance and elevation change in the cost function.A greedy exploration algorithm based on the energy cost function was developed; the energy cost function not only considers the traveling distance, but also includes energy required to change elevation and the rolling resistance of the terrain.An information-based exploration policy was developed to choose the next best viewpoint to maximise the information gain and minimize the energy consumption.In a partially known