Acquiring omnidirectional range information
Abstract
This paper describes a method of obtaining a precise omnidirectional view and coarse ranges to objects by rotating a single camera. The omnidirectional view is obtained by arranging image data taken through a vertical slit on the image plane while the camera rotates around the vertical axis. The omnidirectional view contains precise azimuth information determined by the resolution of the camera rotation. The range is obtained from two omnidirectional images taken through two slits when the camera moves along a circular path. This range estimate contains errors due to a finite resolution of the camera rotation system, while a conventional binocular stereo method contains errors due to quantization of images. The representation of an environment, “panoramic representation,” by the omnidirectional view and range information is useful for a vision sensor of a mobile robot.
