Towards a mine 3D dense mapping mobile robot: A system design and preliminary accuracy evaluation

The rapid development of robotic systems in recent years has greatly increased the availabil-ity of both its hardware and software components. Widely used open-source frameworks like Robot Operating System have made it substantially easier to develop or adopt an existing robotic system for a chosen application. This allowed robots to be used in various new fields. Since sensors that provide spatial data are a vital part of a robotic device, one of these fields has naturally been surveying. Furthermore, given their ability to perform autonomous or re-mote tasks, the deployment of mobile robots is extremely desirable in human-unfriendly envi-ronments, such as an underground mine. Building on these advantages, in this study, we pre-sent a wheeled mobile robot design for exploration and surveying of underground mining are-as. Preliminary tests of its mapping capabilities were conducted in a lab environment. Meas-urements with a survey-grade laser scanner, a commercial handheld SLAM solution, and an open-source SLAM, implemented on a Robotnik wheeled robot, were carried out, and the resulting point clouds were compared to each other. The results prove the usability of a robot-ic system for creating a 3D representation of the surroundings with an accuracy comparable to that of the commercial SLAM device. The advantages, as well as weaknesses, of the 3D SLAM tested on the robot are discussed, and directions for improving it and broadening its fields of application are given.