Design of dead reckoning system for mobile robot

A dead reckoning system for a wheeled mobile robot was designed, and the method for robot’s pose estimation in the 3D environments was presented on the basis of its rigid-body kinematic equations. After analyzing the locomotion architecture of mobile robot and the principle of proprioceptive sensors, the kinematics model of mobile robot was built to realize the relative localization. Considering that the research on dead reckoning of mobile robot was confined to the 2 dimensional planes, the locomotion of mobile robot in the 3 coordinate axis direction was thought over in order to estimate its pose on uneven terrain. Because the computing method in a plane is rather mature, the calculation in height direction is emphatically represented as a key issue. With experimental results obtained by simulation program and robot platform, the position of mobile robot can be reliably estimated and the localization precision can be effectively improved, so the effectiveness of this dead reckoning system is demonstrated.