Vision-Based Corridor Navigation for Humanoid Robots

We present a control-based approach for visual navigation of humanoid robots in office-like environments. In particular, the objective of the humanoid is to follow a maze of corridors, walking as close as possible to their center to maximize motion safety. Our control algorithm is inspired by a technique originally designed for unicycle robots and extended here to cope with the presence of turns and junctions. The feedback signals computed for the unicycle are transformed to inputs that are suited for the locomotion system of the humanoid, producing a natural, human-like behavior. Experimental results for the humanoid robot NAO are presented to show the validity of the approach, and in particular the successful extension of the controller to turns and junctions.