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Course-correction function
3.2.1 Dead reckoning overview
In order to maintain its accuracy over the entire long distance course of travel, the robot
divides the whole path into several "main path segments." In each individual segment,
the robot uses its dead reckoning capability to follow the intended path. As discussed
in Chapter I, dead reckoning is the ability to extrapolate the current position by taking
measurements from a previously known position. The PML robot is able to achieve
dead reckoning because it is able to measure and record each wheel’ s rotation. Each of
these measurements is processed to yield two measurement derivatives. The first
derivative is the average of both wheels rotation, which will yield the distance traveled
by the center of the robot.
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Figure 3-1: Single segment of dead reckoning path