Development of an environment mapping robot using polygonal map representation

The simultaneous localization and mapping problem nowadays has many implementations for single robot systems. The current challenge is to extend these algorithms to work efficiently with a multi-agent setup as well. One of the arising problems is the limited bandwidth for communication between the agents. The industry standard grid-map based representation is a very verbose one, thus making data exchange between the agents more challenging. This paper proposes an outline of a new, polygon-based map representation and presents our results so far. We recognize the importance of testing such a new architecture on a physical system. Therefore, a robotic system was designed and implemented, which is cost effective enough for our research group to be able to afford multiple instances of it, even on a tight budget and makes data gathering and exchange possible between the agents. In this paper we describe our map representation, the steps of the map building, the important design decisions of the implemented system and present the achieved results.