Humanoid Robots Lab

We developed a localization method for humanoid robots navigating in arbitrary complex indoor environments using only onboard sensing. Reliable and accurate localization for humanoid robots operating in such environments is a challenging task. First, humanoids typically execute motion commands rather inaccurately and odometry can be estimated only very roughly. Second, the observations of the small and lightweight sensors of most humanoids are seriously affected by noise. Third, since most humanoids walk with a swaying motion and can freely move in the environment, e.g., they are not forced to walk on flat ground only, a 6D torso pose has to be estimated. We apply Monte Carlo localization to globally determine and track a humanoid's 6D pose in a 3D world model, which may contain multiple levels connected by staircases. To achieve a robust localization while walking and climbing stairs, we integrate 2D laser range measurements as well as attitude data and information from the joint encoders. Using our approach, our humanoid robot is able to globally localize itself and accurately track its 6D pose over time.

Related publication:

Humanoid Robot Localization in Complex Indoor Environments.
A. Hornung, Kai M. Wurm, and M. Bennewitz.
In: Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2010.

Video:

This video below shows our humanoid robot navigating in a complex indoor environment while localizing itself using our technique. We present experiments carried out in the Webots 6 robot simulator as well as using our Nao humanoid equipped with a laser head. This robot was developeed by Aldebaran Robotics in cooperation with our lab.