Terrain and obstacle detection for walking machines using a stereo-camera-head

In this paper, the stereo camera system of the walking machine LAURON II is described. The whole system is used in a way such that obstacles in the moving direction of the machine are detected. As a measurement technique, two grayscale cameras combined with a line laser are used, which evaluate changes of the shape of the generated line. Based on the two camera images and with the help of triangulation, it is also possible to calculate the distance to an object in front of the machine.