Mobile Robots and Autonomous Indoor Navigation

Automating manual and repetitive tasks is necessary for the growth of scale and efficiency of manufacturing and warehousing. Mobile robots provide the means for transporting materials and objects in a controlled and traceable manner. This chapter describes the concepts and characteristics of a mobile robot for indoor usage on land and air. It also presents the four main tasks required to build an autonomous navigation system for these robots. These tasks are Localization, Mapping, Control, and Path Planning. For each task, there is a discussion about solutions and how one can apply them in a truly autonomous system. This chapter also shows current and future applications for autonomous robots and open challenges that require solving for an effective application of an autonomous navigation system. Finally, it shares a case study that implements autonomous navigation for drones.