Mobile Robot Navigation by Stereovision

This paper presents the design and implementation of a low cost stereovision system for being used in mobile robots, which can estimate the distance at which objects are present in its field of vision. The location is achieved by means of an abstraction of a stereoscopic vision sensor to a sensor ring type, which will reduce the stereo information to coplanar distance readings as if it was a sonar. The vision system was used for navigating a mobile robot in a structured environment, using the techniques of reactive path planning and potential fields. The stereovision system implemented showed an average error of 5.34 cm in estimating distances, being tested as main sensor in the Pioneer 3DX robot in different environments under both structured and navigation strategies mentioned above.