Modeling environments from a route perspective

Environment attributes are perceived or remembered differently according to the perspective used. In this study, two different perspectives, a survey perspective and a route perspective, are explained and discussed. This paper proposes an approach for modeling human environments from a route perspective, which is the perspective used when a human navigates through the environment. The process for route perspective semi-autonomous data extraction and modeling by a mobile robot equipped with a laser sensor and a camera is detailed. Finally, as an example of a route perspective application, a route direction robot was developed and tested in a real mall environment. Experimental results show the advantages of the proposed route perspective model compared with a survey perspective approach. Moreover, the route model is comparable to the performance of an expert person giving route guidance in the mall.