Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics

This is a superb textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the field of mobile robotics. With a special emphasis on computation and algorithms, Dudek and Jenkin address a range of strategies for enabling robots to master problems of navigation, pose estimation, and autonomous exploration. While they concentrate on wheeled and legged mobile robots, they also discuss a variety of other propulsion systems with kinematic models developed for many of the more common locomotive strategies. Chapters present algorithms for both visual and nonvisual sensor technologies, including sonar, vision, and laser scanners. In the section on reasoning, the authors thoroughly examine the subject of planning and the issues related to spatial representation. A comprehensive overview of the field, Computational Principles of Mobile Robotics complements its discussion of state-of-the art methods with 139 illustrations of key current and historical technologies.

This is a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the field of mobile robotics. With a special emphasis on computation and algorithms, the authors address a range of strategies for enabling robots to perform tasks that involve motion and behavior. The book is divided into three major sections: locomotion, sensing, and reasoning. It concentrates on wheeled and legged mobile robots, but discusses a variety of other propulsion systems. It presents algorithms for both visual and nonvisual sensor technologies, including sonar, vision, and laser scanners. In the section on reasoning, the authors emphasize the problems of navigation, pose estimation, and autonomous exploration.