Experimental results got with the omnidirectional vision sensor: SYCLOP

In this paper, we present experimental results obtained with the omnidirectional sensor SYCLOP "Conical SYstem for LOcalization and Perception" for localisation of mobile robots. This system, which is able to get a panoramic view of a 2/spl pi/ radian field, is made of a CCD camera and a vertically oriented conic shaped reflector. We give at first a method to calibrate the whole omnidirectional taking into account the transformations between the real world, the conical reflector and the picture. In the second part we carried out a localization method which uses a stereoscopic omnidirectional vision system. This system, in its experimental phase, is constituted of only one catadioptric sensor installed on a mechanical system making a rigid movement of transfer, permitting to get two views of the same scene. From these two pictures, we determine the robot's position with a matching stage which uses the sensorial obtained points and points listed on a theoretical model.