Calibration of Mobile Robotic Systems: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The type of wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) may affect the level of positional errors during motion. The errors are inevitable, as caused by imperfections in design to fabrication, and need to be rectified using calibration techniques. This paper uses the odometry method to provide improved short-term accuracy with high sampling rates. Odometry is economical and requires fewer landmarks and simpler sensory system to localize WMRs, compared to other existing techniques such as 3D camera error detection. The context introduces an odometry-based method to correct the motion of a WMR with two-wheeled mechanism. Experimental results showed that positional errors were significantly improved after applying outcome of the calibration.

Keywords

• calibration
• sensory system
• positional error
• performance analysis
• wheeled mobile robot