Omni-directional stereo for making global map

A novel imaging method is presented for acquiring an omni-directional view with range information using a single camera. The difficult correspondence problem is solved by tracking each feature in the image sequence in the same manner as in epipolar plane image analysis. Although the equivalent camera distance is not long, the authors can obtain reliable estimates because of the high resolution of the panoramic views. The authors expect the resolution in locating sharp edges to be very fine, up to the resolution of camera rotation, 0.005 degree. A global map making procedure is also proposed which uses omni-directional views at different locations. Omni-directional binocular stereo is used to acquire a path-centered local map with direction-dependent uncertainty. By combining multiple local maps, it is possible to build a more reliable global map. Also explored is the possibility for using the panoramic stereo for map making by a robot