Object-based modelling and localization in natural environments

Mobile robot navigation in natural environments requires incremental scene modelling and robot self-localization. These two capacities are discussed in this paper. A scene model is built with heterogeneous representations to match the diversity of the environment. We focus on object-based representations, using coarse models (ellipsoids) or volumic primitives (superquadrics), and their topological relations. The method for extracting the models from a range image to provide geometrical and topological representations, and the matching of successive views during the robot´s movement are presented. For robot localization, two procedures are proposed based on the coarse or fine models. Experimental results are given