The sensorial system developed is based on the emission of an infrared beam
, recovering the reflected beam and measuring distances to significant poin
ts in the environment. This system is able to detect and model obstacles in
unknown environments. Features of the capture system allow large fields of
view to be caught at short distances, aiding the robot's mobility. Several
algorithms are used to find the formation centre of the image and so model
the distortion introduced by the wide-angle lens. Parameters of the optica
l model are inserted into the calibration matrix to obtain the camera model
. We present also an algorithm which extracts the points on the image that
belong to the laser beam. All of the above work is in unknown environments
with variable conditions of illumination. The robot's trajectory is obtaine
d and modified in real time, with a spline function, using four different r
eference systems. Finally, empirical tests have been carried out on a mobil
e platform, using a CCD camera with a wide-angle lens of 65 degrees and 110
degrees, a 15 mW laser emitter and a frame grabber for image processing.