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arXiv · 1812.05489

Material Mapping in Unknown Environments using Tapping Sound

Shyam Sundar Kannan·Wonse Jo·Ramviyas Parasuraman·Byung-Cheol Min
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Abstract

In this paper, we propose an autonomous exploration and a tapping mechanism-based material mapping system for a mobile robot in unknown environments. The goal of the proposed system is to integrate simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) modules and sound-based material classification to enable a mobile robot to explore an unknown environment autonomously and at the same time identify the various objects and materials in the environment. This creates a material map that localizes the various materials in the environment which has potential applications for search and rescue scenarios. A tapping mechanism and tapping audio signal processing based on machine learning techniques are exploited for a robot to identify the objects and materials. We demonstrate the proposed system through experiments using a mobile robot platform installed with Velodyne LiDAR, a linear solenoid, and microphones in an exploration-like scenario with various materials. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed system can create useful material maps in unknown environments.

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Shyam Sundar Kannan, Wonse Jo, Ramviyas Parasuraman, Byung-Cheol Min. 2018-12-13. Material Mapping in Unknown Environments using Tapping Sound. https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.05489

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