Today I read a paper titled “Online Searching with an Autonomous Robot”
The abstract is:
We discuss online strategies for visibility-based searching for an object hidden behind a corner, using Kurt3D, a real autonomous mobile robot.
This task is closely related to a number of well-studied problems.
Our robot uses a three-dimensional laser scanner in a stop, scan, plan, go fashion for building a virtual three-dimensional environment.
Besides planning trajectories and avoiding obstacles, Kurt3D is capable of identifying objects like a chair.
We derive a practically useful and asymptotically optimal strategy that guarantees a competitive ratio of 2, which differs remarkably from the well-studied scenario without the need of stopping for surveying the environment.
Our strategy is used by Kurt3D, documented in a separate video.