An Automatic Docking System for Wheeled Mobile Robots

This paper presents an algorithm for wheeled mobile robots with differential kinematics, which increases positioning and orientation accuracy of docking to the charge station. Localization of the charging station is carried out by detecting ArUco markers. Unlike other localization methods such ones based on IR sensors and LIDARs, this method is more robust and easier to configure. The software designed based the proposed algorithm and Robot Operating System provides simple integration with robots of different designs. The simulation results, shows that the estimated docking accuracy is within 3cm, and the minimum docking distance is 58cm.