Three-Dimensional Scene Analysis Using Stero Based Imaging

摘要

This thesis presents a new method for using passive binocular vision to create a map of the top-view of a robot's environment. While numerous autonomous robot navigation systems exist, most attempt to match objects in each image by following edges or locating significant groups of edge pixels. The method described in this paper uses two cameras (aligned in parallel) to generate stereo images. Low level image features were extracted using a new non-linear production rule system, rather than a conventional filter design. The features are registered by matching correspondingly shaped regions of constant brightness levels in both images and the offset is then computed. The use of heuristics to relieve the computational burden associated with low level image processing is unique, both in processing the images and in locating matching regions in the images. The feature extraction algorithm, the intermediate symbolic representations, and the application of these results to hierarchical structures common to context queuing systems are presented.