Development of an autonomous beach cleaning robot “Hirottaro”

This paper discusses the development of a small beach cleaning robot. The paper discusses two aspects of the robot: the refuse collection mechanism and the autonomous navigation system. In order to enable effective collection of refuse from a sandy surface, we developed a mechanism that mimics cleaning of a floor using a broom and dustpan. To identify its own position, the robot was equipped with a scanning range finder, which measured the position of two poles placed at the corners of the designated work area. The navigation system calculated the position and orientation of the robot using the sensor information and corrected any errors in the path.