Relocation using Laser and Vision

D. Ortín, J. Neira, J.M.M. Montiel

Computer Science Dept. of the University of Zaragoza,

María de Luna 1, 50018 Zaragoza (Spain).

Abstract

We present a method for solving the first location problem using 2D laser and vision. Our observation is a two dimensional laser scan combined with its corresponding image. The observation is segmented in textured vertical planes; each vertical plane contains geometrical information about its location given by the laser scan, plus the gray level image obtained by the camera. The rich plane texture allows a safe plane recognition and the computer vision geometry allows to compute the relative camera motion once two planes are recognized as correspondent. The proposed algorithm outperforms both laser-only or vision only algorithms. This is shown in the experimental results where a map composed of 8 observations of a 20x3 meters corridor allows to successfully locate the robot(without any other prior) in 163 out of 192 initial robot locations.