Real time face detection using geometric constraints, navigation and depth-based skin segmentation on mobile robots

Face detection is an important component for mobile robots to interact with humans in a natural way. Various face detection algorithms for mobile robots have been proposed; however, almost all of them have not yet met the requirements of the accuracy and the speed to run in real time on a robot platform. In this paper, we present a method of combining color and depth images provided by a Kinect camera and navigation information for face detection on mobile robots. This method is shown to be very fast and accurate and runs in real time in indoor environments.