| Title | Laser-based Navigation Enhanced with 3D Time-of-Flight Data |
| Publication Type | Conference Paper |
| Year of Publication | 2009 |
| Authors | Yuan, F., A. Swadzba, R. Philippsen, O. Engin, M. Hanheide, and S. Wachsmuth |
| Conference Name | International Conference on Robotics and Automation |
| Conference Start Date | 12/05/2009 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| Conference Location | Kobe, Japan |
| Keywords | Navigation, obstical avoidance, time-of-flight data |
| Abstract | Navigation and obstacle avoidance in robotics
using planar laser scans has matured over the last decades.
They basically enable robots to also penetrate highly dynamic
and populated spaces, such as people’s home, and move around
smoothly. However, in an unconstrained environment the twodimensional
perceptual space of a fixed mounted laser is not
sufficient in order to ensure safe navigation. In this paper, we
present an approach that pools a fast and reliable motion generation
approach with modern 3D capturing techniques using
a Time-of-Flight camera. Instead of attempting to implement
full 3D motion control, which is computationally more expensive
and simply not needed for the targeted scenario of a domestic
robot, we introduce a “virtual laser”. For the originally solely
laser-based motion generation the technique of fusing real laser
measurements and 3D point clouds into a continuous data
stream is 100% compatible and transparent. The paper covers
the general concept, the necessary extrinsic calibration of two
very different types of sensors, and exemplarily illustrates the
benefit which is to avoid obstacles not being perceivable in the
original laser scan. |
