Object detection and obstacle avoidance for mobile robot using stereo camera

The objective of this research is to develop a real time obstacle detection and obstacle avoidance for autonomous navigation of mobile robots using a stereo camera in an unstructured environment. Autonomous navigation of mobile robots demands a) Exact determination of position and orientation of Robot and b) Accurate determination of size, shape, depth and range of potential obstacles in the environment. Simple kinematic model is used for mobile robot and stereo camera with pan and tilt provision is considered for long range operation. Complete 3D reconstruction of object/obstacle is obtained from the stereo matching algorithm and with triangulation method. The pose (position and orientation) of mobile robot is formulated from the static object observation with stereo reference matching points using RANSAC (RANdom SAmple Consensus) in successive frames. Potential field based obstacle avoidance formulation is carried out by using the obstacle range, size information, mobile robot position and orientation. Finally, proportional derivative navigation control loop along with obstacle avoidance algorithm is formulated and verified.