Fusing range and intensity images for mobile robot localization

In this paper, we present the two-dimensional (2-D) version of the symmetri es and perturbation model (SPmodel), a probabilistic representation model a nd an EKF integration mechanism for uncertain geometric information that is suitable for sensor fusion and integration in multisensor systems, We appl y the SPmodel to the problem of location estimation in indoor mobile roboti cs, experimenting with the mobile robot MACROBE. We have chosen two types o f 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 mob ile robot to precisely locate itself. They also demonstrate the generality of the proposed fusion and integration mechanism.