The problem of docking two mobile robots using a wide-beam sonar system is considered. Be- cause of the similarity to biological bats, the prob- lem is discussed in terms of prey capture in two di- mensions. The basics of the bat-like sonar system are described. Two measures of performance are consid- ered: the capture probability and the mean capture time when capture occurs. These measures are com- puted in two ways: as the ratio of speeds of the prey to the pursuer is varied and as the strategies employing either qualitative information (prey is to the left or right) or quantitative information (range and azimuth to prey) are employed. The lower bound for the mean capture time is determined from game theory, which assumes complete information about the prey. The analysis is verifled by performing experiments with a real mobile robot. Both capture probability and mean capture time are inversely related to the prey/pursuer speed ratio. It is also observed that, while qualitative information is sumcient for docking to occur, quan- titative information allows successful docking over a larger range of speed ratios.
['Roman Kuc', 'Billur Barshan']
Docking Mobile Robots Using A Bat--like Sonar