Automated Indoor Mapping System for the Misty II Robot. This was created while I was working at The Car Lab as a student research assistant. The goal of the project was basically to make a program that would allow the Misty II robot to create maps of rooms without the need for a human to manually drive her around. The best comparison is how roombas roam around and make maps as they go.
When using my program, Misty is able to detect and avoid obstacles in her way. For the video above, I placed objects close to her front and back to se if she would successfully find her way out.
Unlike Roombas, Misty can only map for 5-10 minutes at a time. This means the roaming pattern has to be efficient at viewing as much of the room as possible. I made a feature that allows her to drive in a direction, then retrace back to where she started, turn, then explore in a different direction.
This was too long to fit into a gif, it shows what the program looks like from start to finish of making a map.