Application of a novel polarization sensor to mobile robot navigation

Orientation and position information are indispensable in mobile robot navigation. In this paper, a novel polarization sensor for getting orientation information is introduced. It exports an absolute azimuth angle. To take it effect in mobile robot navigation, a fuzzy logic controller is designed. It can direct the robot walking along the designed trajectory according to the information from the polarization sensor. Assisted by the wheel encoders, some navigation experiments are implemented outdoors. The result indicates that the error of the polarization sensor is independent of the travel distance and it can play an important role in automatic navigation system in a further way.