1 - Question, Context and Method

Summary

This thesis examines the process by which an autonomous mobile robot constructs a map of its operating environment. This process can be considered as two distinct topics. First, the robot has to interpret the findings of its sensors so as to make accurate deductions about the state of its environment. This is the problem of ‘map-building’ Second, it has to select its viewpoints so that the sensory measurements contain new and useful information. This is the problem of ‘exploration’. This thesis describes a practical and experimental investigation into both of these issues.

This document is structured as a large number of short chapters. This reflects the wide range of subjects which had to be examined in order to build an effective working robot for map-building and exploration experiments. For ease of reading, the chapters are grouped into three parts; Part I (Chapters 2 to 4) examines the principal areas of previous research upon which this thesis is built; Part II (Chapters 5 to 10) describes the components of the map-building system; and finally Part III (Chapters 11 to 20) reports on experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of a range of exploration strategies. The closing chapters of Part III summarise the results and conclusions and suggest directions for further research.

The remaining sections of this introductory chapter serve as an overview of the thesis and put the later chapters into context.