Position estimation for a mobile robot using a novel accelerometer : cantilever-type accelerometer with impedance detector

In this paper, we present a method of position estimation for a mobile robot using a novel accelerometer. Compared to other methods, involving landmark utilization, odometry and GPS, an accelerometer-based method has the following advantages: (1) it is easy to install, (2) it is possible to estimate position on uneven ground and indoors. However, it is difficult to use it accurately to estimate the position of a slowly moving object like a robot. For the purpose of estimating the accurate position of a robot, we developed a new accelerometer and propose a method. The impedance detector, "inductcoder", provides digital data. The moving module consists of a weight and a cantilever, which causes no drift. The performance of these devices was evaluated experimentally. We propose an idea to reduce errors and to improve the reproducibility using a piezo actuator. In addition, in order to prevent the estimation errors from increasing, a stop condition is discussed