Robot Localization in Water Pipes Using Acoustic Signals and Pose Graph Optimization

Abstract

One of the most fundamental tasks for robots inspecting water distribution pipes is localization, which allows for autonomous navigation, for faults to be communicated, and for interventions to be instigated. Pose-graph optimization using spatially varying information is used to enable localization within a feature-sparse length of pipe. We present a novel method for improving estimation of a robot’s trajectory using the measured acoustic field, which is applicable to other measurements such as magnetic field sensing. Experimental results show that the use of acoustic information in pose-graph optimization reduces errors by 39% compared to the use of typical pose-graph optimization using landmark features only. High location accuracy is essential to efficiently and effectively target investment to maximise the use of our aging pipe infrastructure.

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Inspection Robots in Water and Sewer Pipe Networks: A Review

“…High frequency acoustic sensing (an ultrasonic sensor) [218], mid-frequency acoustic sensing (a hydrophone sensor) [219]- [221], and radio frequency (RF) sensing [222], [223] have all been applied to localization in pipes with the similarity that they all using an emitter-receiver approach to create a type of 1D spatial map along the pipe that is continuous, and hence more feature-rich than intermittent visual landmarks.…”

“…The robot localization methods developed in [218]- [221], [225] have the advantage that the emitter-receiver unit is carried on-board the robot, whilst in contrast, the other acoustic [224] and RF [222] localization methods require the emitter to be placed in a fixed location in the pipe, with the receiver on-board the robot.…”

“…The ultrasonic sensing method developed in [218] is suited to plastic water pipes because it uses an ultrasonic transceiver to sense terrain profile through the plastic pipe wall. In contrast, the sensing methods developed in [219]- [221] use a hydrophone to excite pipe vibration in metal pipes. The initial work [219], [220] used an EKF and particle filtering methods for robot localization, whilst [221] developed a GraphSLAM method for localization.…”

“…In contrast, the sensing methods developed in [219]- [221] use a hydrophone to excite pipe vibration in metal pipes. The initial work [219], [220] used an EKF and particle filtering methods for robot localization, whilst [221] developed a GraphSLAM method for localization.…”

Robotic Sensing and Systems for Smart Cities

“…The work in [ 2 ] deals with autonomous robot inspection tasks of water distribution pipes. They presented a novel method for improving the estimation of a robot’s trajectory using the measured acoustic field in the pose-graph optimization framework.…”