The Datum Particle Filter: Localization for objects with coupled geometric datums

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a touch-based localization approach for a potentially large and complex object with multiple internal degrees of freedom. Should a task only require a partial localization of the object, our method selects the appropriate information gathering actions to register the desired features. We use probabilistic methods to reason over the distribution of the estimated object poses in the 6-DOF configuration space. We introduce the datum-based particle filter to handle intrinsic tolerances between each of the sections of the object. We describe two alternative methods for the particle filter system: one using the full joint belief and the other reasonably simplifying the belief to achieve a better ability to scale. We present simulation results for both proposed methods to show the advantages of our approaches.