A Sensory Input System for Autonomous Mobile Robots

In order to accomplish navigation in an similar world a robot must be able to build and update its own world map continuously and in real time. This paper proposes a sensory input system based on the fusion of simple low-resolution vision with directed high-resolution sonar. The basic idea is to use a simple vision system to locate the position in which an obstacle lies, and then use an ultrasonic rangefinder to determine the depth of the object and to gain clues about its shape. By fusing two simple systems we attempt to exploit the strengths of each while maintaining an acceptable computational cost. An idealized example is given and we discuss the possibilities and some of the problems.