DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEASURING EQUIPMENT FOR LOCATION AND DIRECTION AND ITS APPLICATION FOR LOCOMOTIVE ROBOTS.

Generally the position (or location) and the direction of a robot can be calculated by using the principle of trigonometrical survey. In this method we use the values obtained by measuring the direction angle of three fixed points from the robot. In this paper we introduce the Measuring Equipment for Location and Direction (MELODI) which uses ultrasonic waves according to the above principle. Its basic characteristics and the algorithm for calculating the position and the direction are explained. According to the experiment, the following observations have been made: Each sensor can search for and locate the direction of the corresponding point correctly from the time the equipment is switched on. It can follow the direction of the corresponding point accurately at the maximum angular speed of 20 degrees per second. Where the three points are set in the vertexes of the regular triangle with a 400cm side, the positional error is within about 5cm.