抄録
We designed a new omnidirectional image sensor COPIS (COnic Projection Image Sensor) to guide the navigation of a mobile robot. The feature of COPIS is passive sensing of the omnidirectional image of the environment, in real-time (at the frame rate of a TV camera), using a conic mirror. COPIS is a suitable sensor for visual navigation in a real environment.
Under the assumption of the known motion of the robot (COPIS), an environmental map of an indoor scene is generated by monitoring azimuth change in the image. We did several experiments in the simple indoor environment. The precision of obtained environmental maps was sufficient for robot navigation in such environment. In this previous experiment, to examine the potential of COPIS against effects of observational errors in real-time navigation, we simplified the image processing method and the experimental environment. In this paper, we improve the image processing method for extracting and tracking vertical edges, taking care of reliability, and also evaluate the effectivity of omnidirectional image sensor COPIS in a real indoor and outdoor environment.
