Self-localization of Anonymous Mobile Robots from Aerial Images

This paper presents three methods for anonymous mobile robot localization within a global frame. An aerial camera takes, at regular time intervals, pictures of the area in which robots are moving. The camera determines the coordinates of each robot. Each robot receives the whole set of coordinates extracted from each picture. Mobile Robots are all identical, they do not have any identifier and they can neither communicate with each other nor they can detect themselves. The first localization method is based on the analysis of the angular variation between two images. The second method relies on the analysis of the distances stemmed from three successive pictures. The last one determines if there exists an orientation allowing a specific robot to travel the path between two successive positions. A simulation plateform using augmented reality and the multi-robot software Player-Stage are presented. This plateform is used for validating the different localization methods. Tests and results are presented and compared.