Circumventing dynamic modeling: evaluation of the error-state Kalman filter applied to mobile robot localization

The mobile robot localization problem is treated as a two-stage iterative estimation process. The attitude is estimated first and is then available for position estimation. The indirect (error state) form of the Kalman filter is developed for attitude estimation when applying gyro modeling. The main benefit of this choice is that combined dynamic modeling of the mobile robot and its interaction with the environment is avoided. The filter optimally combines the attitude rate information from the gyro and the absolute orientation measurements. The proposed implementation is independent of the structure of the vehicle or the morphology of the ground. The method can easily be transferred to another mobile platform provided it carries an equivalent set of sensors. The 2D case is studied in detail first. Results of extending the approach to the 3D case are presented. In both cases the results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.