Augmenting topology-based maps with geometric information

Topology-based maps are a new representation of the workspace of a mobile robot, which capture the structure of the free space in the environment in terms of the basic topological notions of connectivity and adjacency. A topology-based map can represent the environment in terms of open spaces (rooms and corridors) connected by narrow passages (doors and junctions). In this paper, we show how to enrich a topology-based map with geometric information useful for the generation and execution of navigation plans. Both the topology-based map and its geometric information are automatically extracted from sensor data. We illustrate the use of topology-based maps for planned behavior-based navigation on a real robot. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.