Intelligent Floor for Robot Navigation

Keeping track of robots in enclosed spaces still requires sophisticated technology. German Future-Shape has developed an intelligent floor that provides invisible landmarks by using RFID tags. RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification.

These tags use an electromagnetic field to retrieve or store information. Since they are passive devices, they do not require a power supply, and they are becoming increasingly popular in logistics applications. Robotic vehicles or other moving objects only need an RFID reader and map loaded in the controller to indicate the position of the tags in the floor. Equipped in this way, the robot can determine its exact position whenever the reader comes within range of a tag.

The intelligent floor calles NaviFloor® is based on impact (footstep) sound insulation textile layer which can easily be installed using a non-permanent adhesive. Future-Shape has developed a robust encapsulation technique which can be used to embed a grid (e.g. 50 cm) of RFID tags (13.56 MHz) into the underlay and protects them against mechanical stress and moisture. The NaviFloor® underlay has been tested for installation under carpeting, laminate and parquet.

Images: Future-Shape, BARiT(R)

DARPA Urban Challenge 2007

The DARPA Urban Challenge is an autonomous vehicle research and development program with the goal of developing technology that will keep warfighters off the battlefield and out of harm’s way. An autonomous ground vehicle is a vehicle that navigates and drives entirely on its own with no human driver and no remote control. Through the use of various sensors and positioning systems, the vehicle determines all the characteristics of its environment required to enable it to carry out the task it has been assigned.

The Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections, and avoiding obstacles.
The competitive final event is scheduled to take place on November 3, 2007. The exact location will be announced before the National Qualification Event scheduled for October 2007. DARPA is offering $2M for the fastest qualifying vehicle, and $1M and $500,000 for second and third place.

53 teams from have been qualified for the first qualification round.

Autonomous Navigation in Dynamic Environments

Series: Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics , Vol. 35
Laugier, Christian, Chatila, Raja
2007, Approx. 170 p., Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-540-73421-5
Not yet published. Available: October 4, 2007

Part I: Dynamic World Understanding and Modelling for Safe Navigation.- Mobile Robot Map Learning from Range Data in Dynamic Environments.- Optical Flow Approaches for Self-Supervised Learning in Autonomous Mobile Robot Navigation.- Steps Towards Safe Navigation in Open and Dynamic Environments.- Part II: Obstacle Avoidance and Motion Planning in Dynamic Environments.- Provably Safe Motions Strategies for Mobile Robots in Dynamic Domains.- Motion Planning in Dynamic Environments.- Recursive Agent Modeling with Probabilistic Velocity Obstacles for Mobile Robot Navigation among Humans.- Towards Real-Time Sensor-Based Path Planning in Highly Dynamic Environments.- Part III: Human-Robot Physical Interactions.- Tasking Everyday Interaction.