Switching visual control based on epipoles for mobile robots

In this paper, we present a visual control approach consisting in a switching control scheme based on epipolar geometry. The method facilitates a classical teach-by-showing approach where a reference image is used to control the robot to the desired pose (position and orientation). As a result of our proposal a mobile robot carries out a smooth trajectory towards the target and the steering strategy is the same during all the motion. The control scheme developed considers the motion constraints of the mobile platform in an epipolar geometry framework that does not rely on artificial markers or specific models of the environment. The proposed method is designed in order to cope with the degenerate estimation case of the epipolar geometry with short baseline. An extensive experimental evaluation has been performed in realistic indoor and outdoor settings.