Cylindrical panoramic image-based model for robot localization

Mobile robots must be able to learn, use and maintain models of their environments. Two fundamental and interrelated problems in mobile robotics are mapping and localization. We present here a new type of image-based map formed by panoramic models enriched with depth and 3D planarity information. We take an advantage of the scene geometry implicitly contained in the model to localize a mobile robot that is moving in the same environment. The novelty of this model compared to the existing image-based maps is that the motion of the robot is not restricted to a predefined path or locations close to the original images. Experimental results demonstrate this approach.