A laser-guided docking method for differential drive mobile robot fusing camera and sensors

A novel laser-guided docking method for differential drive mobile robots is proposed, aimed at small robots with limited computational power. Traditional docking methods, such as those employing ArUco marker pose estimation, often require significant processing capabilities, making them unsuitable for low-cost, resource-constrained robots. In the proposed method, a laser beam is emitted from the docking station to guide the robot, which uses a simple camera to detect the beam. Upon detection, the robot approaches the beam location and then rotates to identify the docking station's marker. Final alignment and docking are achieved using line sensors, ensuring precision and reliability. Computational demands are reduced while maintaining high docking accuracy. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through experimental results, indicating its viability for small mobile robots in various applications. Finally experimental analysis identified parameters upon which success of the docking using the proposed algorithm depends.