Blimp Robot for Three-Dimensional Gas Distribution Mapping in Indoor Environment

摘要

Mobile robots equipped with gas sensors can be used for automated measurement tasks including odor trail following, gas source localization, and gas distribution mapping. This article reports on the development of a blimp robot for mapping three-dimensional gas distribution in indoor environments. The blimp robot is programmed to fly randomly so that its trajectory covers everywhere in the given indoor environment. The blimp is equipped with gas sensors to measure gas concentrations and an ultrasonic sonar to measure the height from the floor. The measured data are transmitted to an external PC via a wireless communication module. At the same time, a camera placed on the floor takes a picture of the blimp, and its location is recorded with the gas sensor responses. The experimental results indicate that the blimp robot is effective in mapping three-dimensional gas concentration distribution in indoor environments.