Terrain reconstruction for ground and underwater robots

Abstract

We describe a new image-processing algorithm for estimating both the egomotion of an outdoor robotic platform and the structure of the surrounding terrain. The algorithm is based on correlation, and is embedded in an iterative, multi-resolution framework. As such, it is suited to outdoor ground-based and underwater scenes. Both single-camera rigs and multiple-camera rigs can be accommodated. The use of multiple synchronized cameras results in more rapid convergence of the iterative approach. We describe how the algorithm operates, and give examples of its application to three robotic domains: 1) autonomous mobility of ground-based outdoor robots, 2) reconnaissance tasks on ground-based vehicles, and 3) underwater robotics.