Advanced control of robotic systems using low cost sensors

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Mobile robots must carry out increasingly complex tasks involving collaboration between two or more robots. These new conditions require a better knowledge of the environment, of the position of the robot,and of forces applied to and by the robot in a more precise manner than permitted by traditional approaches. The increasing power of embedded microprocessors, the higher quality of small video cameras, the miniaturization of sensors (accelerometers, gyro-meters, ...) using MEMS technologies (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), combined with lower costs of production open the door to the utilization and integration of these technologies in robotics applications which could not cope with the size and weight of traditional sensors.For example, a mobile robot should be able to navigate on a planar surface with accuracy using odometric measurements to follow the prescribed path. However, inaccuracies about the exact robot geometry, sliding between the wheels and the ground, and reorientation of the robot after a collision with an obstacle will generate increasing errors in position estimates. Using data from additional sensors  (acceleration, angular velocity, landmarks detected by vision, ...), we aim to provide a level of accuracy not yet reached for state estimation given the huge reduction in mass, size and power consumption of new sensors compared to traditional sensors.The goal of this project is to develop robotic control systems taking full advantage of recent technical breakthroughs in the fabrication of small low cost sensors.