Experimental analysis of gas-sensitive Braitenberg vehicles

Authors: Achim Lilienthal; Tom Duckett

Source: Advanced Robotics, Volume 18, Number 8, 2004 , pp. 817-834(18)

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Abstract:

This article addresses the problem of localizing a static gas source in an indoor environment by a mobile robot. In contrast to previous works, the environment is not artificially ventilated to produce a strong unidirectional airflow. Here, the dominant transport mechanisms of gas molecules are turbulence and convection flow rather than diffusion, which results in a patchy, chaotically fluctuating gas distribution. Two Braitenberg-type strategies (positive and negative tropotaxis) based on the instantaneously measured spatial concentration gradient were investigated. Both strategies were shown to be of potential use for gas source localization. As a possible solution to the problem of gas source declaration (the task of determining with certainty that the gas source has been found), an indirect localization strategy based on exploration and concentration peak avoidance is suggested. Here, a gas source is located by exploiting the fact that local concentration maxima occur more frequently near the gas source compared to distant regions.

Keywords: GAS-SENSITIVE MOBILE ROBOT; GAS SOURCE LOCALIZATION; TURBULENT GAS DISTRIBUTION; BRAITENBERG VEHICLE

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568553041738103

Publication date: 2004-12-01