Automated odometry self-calibration for car-like robots with four-wheel-steering

Abstract

This paper addresses the task of calibrating the kinematic parameters and odometry of car-like robots with dual-axis steering. To achieve this goal only the robots builtin laser rangers and no external tracking systems are employed. We introduce a method to actively calibrate the steering angles of both front and rear steering angles with a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) controller. Using the determined function between steering servo input and steering angle the effective wheelbase and wheel diameters are estimated. We present an automated self-calibration procedure for car-like robots with dual-axis steering. The results are verified using our self-developed outdoor robot platform.