Design and implementation of a self-guided indoor robot based on a two-tier localization architecture

We consider building an indoor low-cost mobile robot that can be used in home applications. Due to the complicated nature of home environments, it is essential for such a robot to be self-guided in the sense that it is able to determine its current location as well as navigate to locations where it is commanded to. We propose a two-tier architecture to achieve this goal at centimeter-to-meter-level accuracy. The robot can even roam into an area which is new to it. We demonstrate a prototyping system based on an extended iRobot and the results have important implications on intelligent homes. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.