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How Does "MintCleaner" Navigate

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bobledoux

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This robot cleaner (mintcleaner.com) creates a map of environment and cleans using side-by-side passes, not random motion.

"The NorthStar Navigation System works like an indoor GPS that helps Mint keep track of where it has been and where it needs to go. Specifically, the NorthStar Cube projects a signal that Mint uses to determine its location. Then as Mint starts cleaning, it builds a map of the area as it goes, marking walls, obstacles and drop offs as it encounters them. "

I'd like to know the algorithms used in this robot. How does it place itself within its map?
Is it simply dead reckoning using compass bearing and transit time?
 
Everything you asked about is rather brainless and simple to do. I can only assume you're asking this because you don't actually know what NorthStar is.

NorthStar projects a bunch of unique constellations on the ceiling from a projector. The robot has a camera that stares straight up up at the ceiling and uses that information to know it's absolute position at all times. But as you can imagine this won't work too well on wacky ceilings that aren't flat. There's no dead-reckoning whatsoever (no compasses, no odometry, no transit time, no relative motion tracking of any kind). It's even simpler in concept- basically drawing a grid on the floor.

From there it's not very hard to see that if the robot always knows where it is on a blank map, it can move along in any type of motion, randomized or not, and flag the current location as a barrier if sensors detect an obstacle. All it has to do is keep moving around to previously unvisited locations, slowly drawing the obstacles (or more importantly the continuous barriers forming the edge of the room) until it has visited every area in within the continuous outer barrier at least once.
 
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Are you saying there is two units? One is a projector that displays points, lines or other information on the ceiling. The camera on the robot employs measurement of relative angles to the ceiling display to generate position information.
 
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