Development of Ultra-Wide-Angle Laser Range Sensor and Navigation of a Mobile Robot in a Corridor Environment

Abstract

The present authors developed a laser range sensor with an ultra-wide view angle and a navigation scheme for a mobile robot to move along a corridor. Although the range sensor uses orthodox triangulation in measurement, the detectable angle is extended to 260 degrees. This ultra-wide-angle sensor consists of 5 laser fan beam projectors and 3 CCD cameras. All fan beams from laser projectors are aligned in one plane parallel to the floor, and beam reflections on objects are detected by CCD cameras with super-wide-angle lenses. This paper presents schemes for obtaining range data with the sensor and for following along a corridor and some results on long corridor navigation.