Research of robot navigation vision sensors based on grating projection stereo vision

In order to detect obstacles and locate mobile robots in mobile robot navigation under dark environment, a novel visual navigation method based on grating projection stereo vision was proposed. At first, by combining with grating projection profilometry of plane structured light and stereo vision technology, the geometry and mathematical model of a grating projection stereo vision sensor were founded. Then, the method of space equipment position constraint and projection plane intersection were used and 3-D coordinates of the object in field of view of robot were calculated. A reliable and real method of obstacle detection and analysis was established. After theoretical analysis and experimental verification, the caculated range precision of 0.8mm was obtained. The results show that the method can achieve sub-pixel accuracy in image computation. The study can be used to overcome the problem that the robot can't navigate autonomously in dark environment and provides a basis of robot navigation without global positioning system support in dark environment.