Sony Corporation

Steffen Gutmann

Masaki Fukuchi

Kohtaro Sabe

Takayuki Yoshigahara

Kenichiro Oi

Kenta Kawamoto

Masahiro Fujita

Atsushi Okubo

Takeshi Ohashi

James R Bruce

An information processing apparatus that executes processing for creating an environmental map includes a camera that photographs an image, a self-position detecting unit that detects a position and a posture of the camera on the basis of the image, an image-recognition processing unit that detects an object from the image, a data constructing unit that is inputted with information concerning the position and the posture of the camera and information concerning the object and executes processing for creating or updating the environmental map, and a dictionary-data storing unit storing dictionary data in which object information is registered. The image-recognition processing unit executes processing for detecting an object from the image with reference to the dictionary data. The data constructing unit applies the three-dimensional shape data to the environmental map and executes object arrangement on the environmental map.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and computer program

In a plane detection apparatus, a plane detection unit () includes a line fitting block () to select a group of distance data points being in one plane from distance data forming an image and extract lines from the distance data point group, and a region growing block () to detect one or more planar regions existing in the image from a group of all lines included in the image and extracted by the line fitting block (). The line fitting block () first draws a line Dconnecting end points of the distance data point group, searches a point of interest brk whose distance to the line Lis largest, segments the data point group by the point of interest brk when the distance is larger than a predetermined threshold, and determines a line Lby the least-squares method when the distance is smaller than the predetermined threshold. In case there exists a larger number of data points than a predetermine number on one side of the line L, the data point group is determined to be in a zig-zag shape, the data point group is segmented by the point of interest brk. These operations are done repeatedly. Thus, a plurality of planes robust against noises is detected simultaneously and accurately from distance data including measurement noises.

Method and apparatus for detecting plane, and robot apparatus having apparatus for detecting plane

An information processing apparatus that executes processing for creating an environmental map includes a camera that photographs an image, a self-position detecting unit that detects a position and a posture of the camera on the basis of the image, an image-recognition processing unit that detects an object from the image, a data constructing unit that is inputted with information concerning the position and the posture of the camera and information concerning the object and executes processing for creating or updating the environmental map, and a dictionary-data storing unit having stored therein dictionary data in which object information is registered. The image-recognition processing unit executes processing for detecting an object from the image acquired by the camera with reference to the dictionary data. The data constructing unit applies the three-dimensional shape data registered in the dictionary data to the environmental map and executes object arrangement on the environmental map.

An environment map building method and an environment map building apparatus can express the surrounding embodiment with a high resolution in the height direction in a manner robust relative to observation noises. The present invention provides an environment map building apparatus for building a three-dimensional environment map to be used for three-dimensionally determining a region allowing a moving body to move therein according to external environment conditions, which comprises an external environment conditions detecting section that detects external environment conditions, a three-dimensional map building section that builds a three-dimensional map showing the state of occupancy of a three-dimensional grid on the basis of the external environment conditions detected by the external environment conditions detecting section, a relative-to-base-plane height map building section that builds a relative-to-base-plane height map showing heights from a two-dimensional base plane on the basis of the external environment conditions detected by the external environment conditions detecting section, and a height map information modifying section that modifies the information of the relative-to-base-plane height map on the basis of the information on the three-dimensional map.

Environment map building method, environment map building apparatus and mobile robot apparatus

The present invention provides a position estimation apparatus capable of determining whether an estimated value deviates from an actual value and trying a process to correct the estimated value if the estimated value is determined to be incorrect. The position estimation apparatus employs a position prediction unit configured to produce a prediction of the position of a mobile object having an odometry sensor mounted thereon, an environment observation unit configured to keep track of each feature point in the environment of the mobile object, a prediction-error check unit configured to determine whether the position prediction produced by the position prediction unit is correct or incorrect, a position-prediction correction unit configured to correct a wrong position prediction and a position/posture updating unit configured to update the position and/or posture of the mobile object on the basis of a correct position prediction.

Position estimation apparatus, position estimation method and program recording medium

An environment recognizing device and an environment recognizing method can draw an environment map for judging if it is possible to move a region where one or more than one steps are found above or below a floor, a route planning device and a route planning method that can appropriately plan a moving route, using such an environment map and a robot equipped with such an environment recognizing device and a route planning device. The robot comprises an environment recognizing section including a plurality of plane extracting sectionadapted to compute plane parameters from a parallax image or a distance image and extract a plurality of planes including the floor surface, an obstacle recognizing sectionadapted to recognize obstacles on the plurality of planes including the floor surface and an environment map updating sectionadapted to draw an environment map (obstacle map) for each of the planes on the basis of the result of recognition of the obstacle recognizing sectionand update the existing environment maps and a route planning sectionadapted to plan a route on the basis of the environment maps. The route planning sectionselects a plane as route coordinate when an obstacle is found on it in the environment map of the floor surface but not found in the environment map of the plane.

Environment recognizing device, environment recognizing method, route planning device, route planning method and robot

The present invention provides an obstacle avoiding apparatus, an obstacle avoiding method, an obstacle avoiding program, and a mobile robot apparatus that can accurately model a robot apparatus and plan a highly precise moving route for the robot apparatus that avoids obstacles. The obstacle avoiding apparatus, to be used for a mobile robot apparatus to avoid obstacles, includes an obstacle environment map drawing section that divides the range of height from the reference surface for the mobile robot apparatus to move thereon to the height of the mobile robot apparatus into a plurality of layers corresponding to predetermined respective ranges of height and draws obstacle environment maps, each showing the condition of being occupied by one or more than one obstacles existing in the corresponding layer, and a route planning section that plans a route for the robot apparatus to move along according to an enlarged environment map prepared by enlarging the area occupied by the obstacle or obstacles in the obstacle environment maps as a function of the cross sectional profile of the mobile robot apparatus in each of the layers.

Obstacle avoiding apparatus, obstacle avoiding method, obstacle avoiding program, and mobile robot apparatus

An obstacle recognition apparatus is provided which can recognize an obstacle by accurately extracting a floor surface. It includes a distance image generator () to produce a distance image using a disparity image and homogeneous transform matrix, a plane detector () to detect plane parameters on the basis of the distance image from the distance image generator (), a coordinate transformer () to transform the homogeneous transform matrix into a coordinate of a ground-contact plane of a robot apparatus (), and a floor surface detector () to detect a floor surface using the plane parameters from the plane detector () and result of coordinate transformation from the coordinate transformer () and supply the plane parameters to an obstacle recognition block (). The obstacle recognition block () selects one of points on the floor surface using the plane parameters of the floor surface detected by the floor surface detector () and recognizes an obstacle on the basis of the selected point.

Obstacle recognition apparatus and method, obstacle recognition program, and mobile robot apparatus

A self-localization system uses both of a global search apparatus, which is based on grid-based Markov localization, and a local search apparatus, which uses an extended Kalman filter. If an observation result by the global search apparatus is valid, then updating of an observation result by the local search apparatus is permitted, but if the observation result is not valid, then updating of the observation result by the local search apparatus is not performed. On the other hand, if the observation result by the local search apparatus is valid, then a state of the local search is outputted, but if the observation result is not valid, then the local search apparatus is re-initialized. Accordingly, the self-localization of a robot can be performed based on sensor information of the robot and motion information performed by the robot in an environment including artificial landmarks.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Steffen Gutmann