Self-localization from the panoramic views for autonomous mobile robots

This paper describes a self-localization method for the mobile robot using panoramic view image. A panoramic view image has the information of location of the objects from the viewer robot and direction between the objects at a position. Among the sequence of panoramic view images, the target objects in the image like traffic signs, facade of a building, road signs, etc. locate in the real world so that the location and direction deliver to localize robot's position and direction from his view. With the previously captured panoramic images, the method calculates the distance and direction of the region of interest, corresponds the regions between the sequences, and identifies the location in the world. To obtain the region, vertical edge line segments witch locates in the buildings and traffic sign stems and region segments of monotone color are utilized. In the segmented region, centroid is used to localize principal point to localize. For experiments, a mobile robot circulate to capture the University campus so that he can recognize his location and make a map of the campus. Experimental results showed the method is adequate for the map generation and sending a robot on an errand to destination.