Design and implementation of a vision processing system for a walking machine

A vision processing system for a six-legged walking machine, the adaptive suspension vehicle, is presented. The vision-processing system consists of a laser range-finder, and vision computer, a terrain-elevation map, and a guidance computer. The range-finder measures the distances from itself to the objects in the scene. The specially designed vision computer processes the range data into a terrain-elevation form and stores the information with time data in a terrain-elevation map. With the real-time elevation information in the map, the guidance computer can select the best footholds for the walking machine in order to maneuver over rough terrain