Mobile robot navigation employing ceiling light fixtures
US4933864A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 4, 1988 |
| Grant date | Jun 12, 1990 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 4, 2008 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG05D1/0272
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Apparatus and method which provides for the determination of a vehicle's orientation and position in an environment, such as a hallway, from an image of ceiling lights. A mobile robot 10 includes a camera 12 that is pitched up obliquely at an intermediate angle between a horizon and a zenith. The camera views a ceiling having one or more ceiling lights 16 which may be of rectangular shape and which are preferably aligned with an axis of the hallway. In that the lights present a pattern or alignment which is substantially parallel to or perpendicular to a long axis of the hallway the pattern is detected and processed to derive robot navigation information therefrom.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.