The State of the Art in Mobile Robotics

This paper presents a survey of the information processing aspects of mobile robotics, including architecture, position estimation, world modelling, sensor data integration, vision, and planning. For each topic, a definition is offered, followed by a discussion of the major issues. Points for which a consensus seems to have emerged within the scientific domain, are then presented, followed by a discussion of alternative approaches and currently unsolved problems. The paper finishes with a conclusion section in which some of the more important topics of scientific consensus are reviewed and a discussion is given of some applications area where mobile robots are thought to be feasible with existing technology. We complete the article with an appendix which lists the names and address for many of the more well known research groups.