Searching unknown 2-D environment by a mobile robot with a range sensor

This paper presents an efficient approach that constructs the geometric world map model of the unknown 2-D environment where the mobile robot moves by searching it using range sensors included in the mobile robot. In the proposed searching method, the robot decides the observation points and obtains the environment information around it through the range sensor. From the sensory information, the range sensor will specify the boundary between the floor and the walls in the environment. Then, the environment model can be generated by collecting continuously the extracted boundary information at each observation point while applying a suitable adjustment algorithm on them. To demonstrate the process of the map construction using the proposed algorithm, a simulator based on the real mobile robot is introduced. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the suggested algorithm in the real environment considering the sensory and control errors.