A Direct Localization Method Using only the Bearings Extracted from Two Panoramic Views Along a Linear Trajectory

Abstract

To operate successfully in any environment, mobile robots must be able to localize themselves accurately. In this paper, we describe a direct method (in the sense it does not use an iterative search) based on vision for localizing a mobile robot in an environment with only two observations along a linear trajectory. We only assume that the robot can visually identify landmarks and measure their bearings. Contrary to other existing approaches to landmark based navigation, we do not require any other sensors (like range sensors or wheel encoders) or the prior knowledge of relative distances between the landmarks. Given its low cost, the range of potential applications of our localization system is very wide. In particular, this system is ideally suited for domestic robots such as autonomous lawn-mowers and vacuum cleaners.