Lidar-Based Relative Position Estimation and Tracking for Multi-Robot Systems

Relative positioning systems play a vital role in current multi-robot systems. We present a self-contained detection and tracking approach, where a robot estimates a distance (range) and an angle (bearing) to another robot using measurements extracted from the raw data provided by two laser range finders. We propose a method based on the detection of circular features with least-squares fitting and filtering out outliers using a map-based selection. We improve the estimate of the relative robot position and reduce its uncertainty by feeding measurements into a Kalman filter, resulting in an accurate tracking system. We evaluate the performance of the algorithm in a realistic indoor environment to demonstrate its robustness and reliability.