Mobile robot vavigation using a vision based approach

摘要

Autonomous robots operating in an unknown and uncertain environment must be able to cope with dynamic changes to that environment. For a mobile robot to navigate successfully to a goal whilst avoiding both static and dynamic obstacles is a challenging problem. This paper proposes a methodology based on visual servoing using a single Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) network camera mounted on the robot as the primary sensor for indoor mobile robot navigation. The aim for the robot is to carry out its task without any prior knowledge of its environment. Several different approaches to avoiding obstacles have been developed in recent years, some of which are computationally intensive. One approach, using a mapless landmark detection algorithm is receiving a lot of attention, principally because of its efficiency and robustness. This method will be described in depth, as it offers a potential solution. It is proposed to develop a vision based navigation system, using a single high quality PTZ camera to capture and process images in real-time. The system will be integrated into an existing mobile robot platform, which incorporates the Player/Stage architecture. The performance of the visual seroving based approach will be compared with existing obstacle avoidance sensors, which include a scanning laser and sonar array.