Lesson 104: Robot Localization | The Robot Doctor
Support Materials
Keeping track of position as a robot moves, and updating that position with math using ranges to known landmarks.
Assignment: Lesson 104
- If our robot is 5 meters from the tree (2, 13), 10 meters from the bush (13,11) and 5 meters from the pond (5,22), where is it?
- Now imagine the robot sees two landmarks, a pile of rocks (10,0) and an umbrella (20,0). The distance to both objects is 5 meters. Can you still determine the position of the robot?
About
Explore how a robot keeps track of its position as it moves, and how to update that position with math using ranges to known landmarks, in this 14-minute episode. The goal of this video series is to teach the basics of Robotics: the what, why, and how—with examples—and to provide take-home problems to solve.
How do robots determine their location? In this lesson we will explore a three-step process to find the position by 1) finding at least 3 nearby landmarks with known positions 2) determine the robot’s range to each landmark using onboard sensors and 3) calculate the intersection point of the 3 range circles to find the robot’s position.
Credits: WQED, RobotWits LLC, PA Rural Robotics, Dr. Jonathan Butzke, Carnegie Mellon University
Standards
- Frames of reference & position (STEELS.6-8.ESS.1)
- Integrating sensor data to update state (STEELS.6-8.TE.7)
- Applying vector/coordinate reasoning to determine location (STEELS.9-12.PS.3)
- Error analysis in measurement updates (STEELS.9-12.TE.7)
- Coordinate plane basics (CC.2.3.8.A.1)
- Distance formula for position updates (CC.2.3.8.A.3)
- Vector operations for localization (CC.2.3.HS.A.8)
- Matrix transformations for position updates (CC.2.3.HS.A.10)
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