This project addresses the problem of localizing an autonomous mobile robot in a structured environment. The goal is a human-like navigation technique. Topological, metric or hybrid navigation schemes make use of different types of environment features on different levels of perceptual abstraction.
Human beings navigate topologically with complex models and symbols of a high degree of abstraction.
In order to have a feasible implementation in real-time, we have to reduce the complexity required by these environment modeling processes. We expect that the incorporation of simple models provide this reduction without loss of the envisaged robustness. Geometric primitives allow very compact and precise environment characterization. They represent however the presupposition of their existence and with that a limitation of environment types. This loss of generality can be diminished by simultaneously employing different geometric features from different sensors with complementary properties.