Omni-directional obstacle detection

In this paper, we propose a novel obstacle detection system using Ring Beam System (RBS) for mobile robots. For mobile robots, it is necessary to detect obstacles that exist in the direction of movement. The principle of detecting obstacles in this system is same as triangulation. The advantages are having no moving parts and detecting all obstacles around the robot simultaneously. Firstly, this paper introduces the novel obstacle detection system that fit omni-directional vehicles. Secondly, we calculate a relationship between the position of bright points on image from CCD camera and the distance to obstacles. Based on this relationship, we carried out an experiment of measuring distances to obstacles. But the result of experiment included large errors. So, we tried to calibrate parameters and we could reduce the errors of experimental result. Finally, we measured at a passageway and we showed that measured distances were almost within theoretical resolution.