2D Mapping and Exploration Using Autonomous Robot

A Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system is a very useful tool in the exploration of sparse environments, such as underground tunnels and during disasters. LIDAR can also be used to measure distances from the sensor to an object by illuminating that object with a laser light and then measuring time for the reflected light to return. The LIDAR is a device that emits and measures light in the form of a laser which reflects from the ground to the lidar. The aim of our research is to make use of LIDAR technology and explore unknown environments with autonomous navigation at ease. In our research, we used LIDAR and made a robot that can generate a 2D map of the surrounding environment and can help the operator to analyse the interior part of it. We have used Raspberry Pi to pre-process the data from the LIDAR and used Robot Operating System (ROS) to interpret the data on the graph to generate the map. This system is almost human independent and is risk free. Hence, generated 2D map is used for further process to inspect if the environment is safe for human to enter. In this research, we have also implemented the autonomous navigation part. Once the map is generated, the robot can move from one point to another point taking the shortest path. Suppose there is new obstacle in the path, the robot is capable of generating the next feasible alternative path to reach the destination Manoj Kumar and Nandakumar (Int J Grid Distrib Comput 13:1622–1627, 2020). SLAM technique is used to predict the position of the robot and simultaneously navigate. In this paper, we have explained in detail about how the data is processed and the functionality.