Control device of an autonomously moving body and evaluation method for data thereof

A control system for an autonomously running body comprising:

• at least one color video camera and at least one monochromatic video camera for generating image data descriptive of a travel area in a direction of travel of said autonomously moving body;
• region extracting means for extracting data representative of a road from said image data descriptive of said travel area, said road having at least one edge;
• general line segment extraction means for extracting from said image data general line data representing said at least one edge of said road;
• local line segment tracing means for extracting from said image data local line segments representative of said at least one edge of said road;
• a radar system for generating location data corresponding to obstacles disposed within said travel area;
• data control means coupled to said region extraction means, said general line segment extraction means, said local line segment extraction means, and said radar system, said data control means including at least one control data base for storing said data generated by said radar system and for storing said data extracted by said region extraction means, said general line segment extraction means, and said local line segment extraction means;
• said data control means including means for transforming and synchronizing said data stored in said at least one control data base such that said data stored in said at least one control data base represents said travel area and a position of said autonomously moving body at a selected moment in time;
• data evaluation means coupled to said data control means for integrating said transformed data into a single data set descriptive of said travel area and verifying that said single data set includes data descriptive of a travel path along which said autonomously moving body is travelling;
• environmental description means for providing environmental map data descriptive of a position of said autonomous moving body within said travel area, said environmental description means being coupled to said data evaluation means and said motion control means and including an environmental description data base;
• and
• motion control means coupled to said data evaluation means for controlling the motion of said autonomously moving body such that said autonomously moving body is capable of moving along said travel path.