Although their prototype robots were designed to follow a pseudorandom path, we believed that we could build our knowledge of advanced coverage techniques into similarly low-cost robots. Finder carries 16 ultrasonic sensors for obstacle detection and avoidance and a positioning device for coverage. Ultrasound was chosen over infrared for collision detection as Finder must operate outside, where the Sun saturates all infrared sensors. For mine detection, we will equip Finder with a standard metal detector. This may seem a naive choice for the most safety-critical sensor on the robot, but as our focus is on path planning and coverage, we feel justified in leaving more sophisticated mine detectors to others.
Finder is in any case upgradeable as improved sensors are developed.
Without this knowledge, a robot cannot perform complete or intelligent probabilistic coverage, making random coverage and similarly unsophisticated algorithms the only options. The obstacle sensors, motors, and localization are driven by a set of embedded computers on board Finder. Copyright 2000 Sensor Based Planning Lab, Carnegie Mellon University. All Rights Reserved.