A randomized method for integrated exploration

We present an integrated exploration strategy for mobile robots. The method is based on the randomized incremental generation of a data structure called Sensor-based Random Tree (SRT), which represents a roadmap of the explored area with an associated safe region. A continuous localization procedure based on natural features of the safe region is integrated in the scheme. Both the information gain and the localization potential are taken into account when evaluating candidate configurations for exploration. Simulations and experiments on the MagellanPro robot show the performance of the proposed technique.