Exploration and navigation in corridor environment based on Omni-View sequence

A map is a description which represents the structure of an environment. In order for a robot to move from a point to another efficiently in an environment, a map of the environment is the essential information. "Omni-View Sequence" is a kind of route representation which we have developed for robot navigation in a corridor environment. It contains a sequence of omnidirectional views as the information of a route. However it cannot be regarded as a map, because the start and the goal points of the route are both fixed. In this paper, we first propose a map named "view-sequenced map" which can represents a whole corridor environment on a floor in a building. Then we describe the method for acquiring a view-sequenced map automatically based on the exploration of a robot in a corridor using both stereo and omnidirectional vision. Finally experimental results of the map acquisition and the autonomous navigation are presented to show the feasibility of the proposed map representation.