Vision based obstacle detection for wheeled robots

In this paper a real time obstacle detection system for robots is presented. The technique is based on a single camera and no further sensors or encoders are required. The algorithm is independent of geometry and even moving objects can be detected. The system provides a top view map of the robotpsilas field of view in real-time. First, the images are segmented reasonably. Ground motion estimation and stereo matching is used to classify each segment either belonging to the ground plane or belonging to an obstacle. The resulting map is used for further navigational processing like obstacle avoidance routines, path planning or static map creation. The algorithm has been tested successfully on several platforms.