Title
Probabilistic terrain classification in unstructured environments
Abstract
Autonomous navigation in unstructured environments is a complex task and an active area of research in mobile robotics. Unlike urban areas with lanes, road signs, and maps, the environment around our robot is unknown and unstructured. Such an environment requires careful examination as it is random, continuous, and the number of perceptions and possible actions are infinite. We describe a terrain classification approach for our autonomous robot based on Markov Random Fields (MRFs ) on fused 3D laser and camera image data. Our primary data structure is a 2D grid whose cells carry information extracted from sensor readings. All cells within the grid are classified and their surface is analyzed in regard to negotiability for wheeled robots. Knowledge of our robot's egomotion allows fusion of previous classification results with current sensor data in order to fill data gaps and regions outside the visibility of the sensors. We estimate egomotion by integrating information of an IMU, GPS measurements, and wheel odometry in an extended Kalman filter. In our experiments we achieve a recall ratio of about 90% for detecting streets and obstacles. We show that our approach is fast enough to be used on autonomous mobile robots in real time.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1016/j.robot.2012.08.002
Robotics and Autonomous Systems
Keywords
Field
DocType
Markov random fields,Terrain classification,Sensor fusion
Computer vision,Extended Kalman filter,Computer science,Simulation,Odometry,Sensor fusion,Artificial intelligence,Global Positioning System,Robot,Autonomous robot,Robotics,Mobile robot
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
61
10
0921-8890
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
11
0.65
32
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Marcel Häselich1343.49
Marc Arends2221.84
Nicolai Wojke3664.45
Frank Neuhaus4244.08
Dietrich Paulus537771.34