Navigation and localization

Before a mobile robot can go anywhere on purpose, it has to answer one question: where am I? Everything else, planning a path, driving to a goal, coordinating with other robots, builds on that answer. This section covers how a machine estimates its own position and uses that estimate to move.

• How a robot knows its position: odometry, GPS, and SLAM as localization sources, and their drift and cost trade-offs.
• SLAM and mapping: building a map and locating within it.
• Combine sensors with sensor fusion: why one sensor is rarely enough, and what “fusion” does and doesn’t mean today.
• Navigate a mobile base to a goal: drive to a map or GPS waypoint with the motion service.
• Coordinate a multi-robot fleet: share tasks and avoid deadlock across machines.