CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MEASUREMENT ERRORS IN A MINIATURE LASER SCANNER FOR WALKING ROBOTS

This paper analyses selected operational characteristics and measurement errors in the 2D laser scanner URG-04LX, which is a sensor suitable for walking robots due to its small size and weight. Quantitative errors in range measurement are analysed considering the intensity output available from the sensor. The obtained intensity values help to correct the range measurements with regard to various optical characteristics of the observed surfaces. Moreover, the most important qualitative errors – mixed measurements are characterized and compared to mixed measurements in the popular LMS 200 laser scanner. Finally, it is shown how taking into account the error characteristics of the URG-04LX scanner improves its performance as the main exteroceptive sensor of an autonomous walking robot.