Planning, Localization, and Mapping for a Mobile Robot in a Camera Network

Networks of cameras such as building security systems can be a source of localization information for a mobile robot assuming a map of camera locations as well as calibration information for each camera is available. This thesis describes an automated system to acquire such information. A fully automated camera calibration system uses fiducial markers and a mobile robot in order to drastically improve easeof-use compared to standard techniques. A 6DOF EKF is used for mapping and is validated experimentally over a 50 m hallway environment. Motion planning strategies are considered both in front of a single camera to maximize calibration accuracy and globally between cameras in order to facilitate accurate measurements. For global motion planning, an adaptive exploration strategy based on heuristic search allows compromise between distance traveled and final map uncertainty which provides the system a level of autonomy which could not be obtained with previous techniques.