Fusing range and intensity images for mobile robot localization

In this paper, we present the two-dimensional (2-D) version of the symmetries and perturbation model (SPmodel), a probabilistic representation model and an EKF integration mechanism for uncertain geometric information that is suitable for sensor fusion and integration in multisensor systems. We apply the SPmodel to the problem of location estimation in indoor mobile robotics, experimenting with the mobile robot MACROBE. We have chosen two types of complementary sensory information: 1) range images; 2) intensity images; obtained from a laser sensor. Results of these experiments show that fusing simple and computationally inexpensive sensory information can allow a mobile robot to precisely locate itself. They also demonstrate the generality of the proposed fusion and integration mechanism. Index Terms - Computer vision, map-based localization, mobile robots, range finder, sensor fusion.