Dead Reckoning - Autonomous Navigation in Robotics

Autonomous Navigation in Robotics

Dead reckoning is utilized in some lower-end, non mission-critical, or tightly constrained by time or weight, robotic applications. It is usually used to reduce the need for sensing technology, such as ultrasonic sensors, GPS, or placement of some linear and rotary encoders, in an autonomous robot, thus greatly reducing cost and complexity at the expense of performance and repeatability. The proper utilization of dead reckoning in this sense would be to supply a known percentage of electrical power or hydraulic pressure to the robot's drive motors over a given amount of time from a general starting point. Dead reckoning is not totally accurate, which can lead to errors in distance estimates ranging from a few millimeters (in CNC machining) to kilometers (in UAV's), based upon the duration of the run, the speed of the robot, the length of the run, and several other factors.

Read more about this topic:  Dead Reckoning

Famous quotes containing the word autonomous:

    There is a totalitarian regime inside every one of us. We are ruled by a ruthless politburo which sets ours norms and drives us from one five-year plan to another. The autonomous individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.
    Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)