EVALUATION OF A SOLID-STATE GYROSCOPE FOR ROBOTICS APPLICATIONS

The evaluation of a low-cost solid-state gyroscope for robotics applic ations is described. An error model for the sensor is generated and in cluded in a Kalman filter for estimation the orientation of a moving r obot vehicle. Orientation estimation with the error model is compared to the performance when the error model is excluded from the system. T he results demonstrate that without error compensation, the error in l ocalization is between 5-15-degrees/min but can be improved at least b y a factor of 5 if an adequate error model is supplied. Like all inert ial systems, the platform requires additional information from some ab solute position-sensing mechanism to overcome long-term drift. However , the results show that with careful and detailed modeling of error so urces, inertial sensors can provide valuable orientation information f or mobile robot applications.