New visual feedback guidance of a mobile robot via vanishing point

Abstract

We consider a problem about navigation of a mobile robot with a camera in indoor environment. A new visual control method using a vanishing point of parallel lines at both sides of the corridor is introduced, and we call this the vanishing point visual control method. This method gives a lot of useful information on the design. Therefore we can't need a priori information except both widths of the corridor and the robot, but we can easily design the visual feedback system for guidance and obstacle avoidance by using this method. The idea is based on perspective geometry such as perspective projection, epipolar geometry, vanishing point, and projective transformation.