Fusing laser and vision data with a genetic ICP algorithm

Knowledge about the environment is essential for humanoid and mobile robots to move and act safely. The most intuitive way to perceive information about the environment is through the vision system. However, the accuracy provided by stereo vision is insufficient for many tasks. A more accurate representation is created by a laser range-finder, which delivers no color information. This paper describes a novel approach to merge data obtained by stereo vision and laser range-finders by using a genetic ICP algorithm, which is able to register noisy point clouds with different resolutions and a small overlap. Furthermore, it describes an easy-to-use and robust method to calibrate the extrinsic parameters of two or more laser range-finders.