Improved tracking and docking of Industrial Mobile Robots through UKF vision based kinematics calibration

Performing an open-loop movement, or docking, for an industrial mobile robot (IMR), is a common necessary procedure when relying on environmental sensors is not possible. This procedure precision and outcome, solely depend on the IMR forward kinematic and odometry correctness, which is tied to the kinematics parameters, depending on the IMR kind. In this work, we focus on the so-called kinematic parameter calibration, using an unscented Kalman filter to estimate the geometrical kinematic parameters of a mobile platform. The mobile platform is externally tracked during the calibration phase, using a fixed temporary external sensor that retrieves the position of a visual tag fixed to the platform.