Our goal is to achieve real-time intelligent mobility and navigation in indoor environments using minimalist representations extracted from cameras on board the robot. A minimalist representation is one in which the minimal amount of information required to achieve a task is extracted. The robot autonomously wanders about the lab while avoiding obstacles in real time.
Obstacle avoidance is achieved using only visual image flow for sensing the environment.
We have thus far demonstrated wandering behavior for periods up to 20 minutes. The robot attempts to move straight ahead, but it will steer left or right to avoid objects on its sides. When it detects an obstacle directly in front, it stops, turns around, and continues wandering. The two cameras are configured such that one is on top of the other. The cameras move together under gaze control, since they are mechanically coupled under control of one pan motor.