Autonomous robot motion in an unknown environment by local 3D elevation map construction

The paper deals with the problem of autonomous motion for a mobile robot in a totally unknown environment with obstacles and with rough ground. The solution proposed for the safe motion is based on a continuous combination between environment analysis and motion, achieved using an incremental path planner working on local maps obtained by an iterative construction of a 3D elevation map, built making use of a stereovision system only, reporting the presence and the highness of obstacles together with the shape of the ground and its discontinuities. The combination of the local map construction with the motion along the portion of the path planned reduces the area to be investigated and, consequently, the time, the computational effort and complexity and so on. Experimental results are reported to validate the proposed technique.