A Localization Method for a Soccer Robot Using a Vision-Based Omni-Directional Sensor

In this paper, a method for robot self-localization based on a catadioptric omni-directional sensor is introduced. The method was designed to be applied to fully autonomous soccer robots participating in the middle-size league of RoboCup competitions. It uses natural landmarks of the soccer field, such as field lines and goals, as well as a priori knowledge of the field geometry, to determine the robot position and orientation with respect to a coordinate system whose location is known. The landmarks are processed from an image taken by an omni-directional vision system, based on a camera plus a convex mirror designed to obtain (by hardware) the ground plane bird's eye view, thus preserving field geometry in the image. Results concerning the method's accuracy are presented.

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