Navigation and Self-Semantic Location of Drones in Indoor Environments by Combining the Visual Bug Algorithm and Entropy-Based Vision

• Main Authors: Darío Maravall, Javier de Lope, Juan P. Fuentes
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-08-01
• Series: Frontiers in Neurorobotics
• Subjects: visual bug algorithm; entropy search; visual topological maps; internal models; unmanned aerial vehicles
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnbot.2017.00046/full

We introduce a hybrid algorithm for the self-semantic location and autonomous navigation of robots using entropy-based vision and visual topological maps. In visual topological maps the visual landmarks are considered as leave points for guiding the robot to reach a target point (robot homing) in indoor environments. These visual landmarks are defined from images of relevant objects or characteristic scenes in the environment. The entropy of an image is directly related to the presence of a unique object or the presence of several different objects inside it: the lower the entropy the higher the probability of containing a single object inside it and, conversely, the higher the entropy the higher the probability of containing several objects inside it. Consequently, we propose the use of the entropy of images captured by the robot not only for the landmark searching and detection but also for obstacle avoidance. If the detected object corresponds to a landmark, the robot uses the suggestions stored in the visual topological map to reach the next landmark or to finish the mission. Otherwise, the robot considers the object as an obstacle and starts a collision avoidance maneuver. In order to validate the proposal we have defined an experimental framework in which the visual bug algorithm is used by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in typical indoor navigation tasks.