Optical range image acquisition for the navigation of a mobile robot

A very compact optical range sensor is described which is to be used for the acquisition of the range information for the navigation of a mobile platform. A short review of the techniques currently used to acquire range data for a mobile vehicle is included. Some advantages and disadvantages of the different methods are presented. Emphasis is placed on a possible short-to-medium-term solution of the problem of robot navigation. A short description of the optical principle of the range sensor BIRIS, its real-time implementation on a commercially available image processing system, and its performance are presented. The high immunity of the sensor to ambient illumination and external perturbations is also demonstrated. Experimental results and a technique for the detection of the free space surrounding the vehicle using the range data are given