Implementation of Mixed Reality Tools for Mobile Robot Map Generation

Modern consumer technologies have become more intuitive and user-friendly. On the other hand, as automation levels rise in most factories and warehouses, it is becoming increasingly difficult to configure certain processes without a specialist’s involvement. Typically, these facilities employ staff without an engineering background in robotics, who can only perform their direct duties but are unable to create maps and routes for mobile robots. This article describes an alternative approach to creating a multi-purpose navigation map using mixed reality glasses, demonstrating the capabilities of Meta’s Meta Quest 3 glasses as a versatile mixed reality device for 3D room scanning and navigation mapping. In this paper, we demonstrate how a mixed reality approach can be applied to additional mapping evaluation for rooms of varying complexity and shape, including problematic areas for many similar solutions when the room contains mirrors and glass walls. Although environmental scanning in the Meta Quest 3 glasses is a standard integrated function of these glasses, it is used only for the collision avoidance system; this device can be successfully implemented in the Internet of Things system, and the collected data can be used for 3D scanning of the environment, creating navigation maps after additional data processing. This method expands the implementation of automated moving systems, including simplified map creation for mobile robots, in complex environmental and movement tasks.