Visual-based obstacle detection method and apparatus for mobile robot

A visual-based obstacle detection method, comprising:

• receiving image information of an environment containing a mobile robot captured by at least one visual sensor to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) space;
• based on the received image information, extracting feature geometric primitives;
• based on a certain matching criteria, matching the extracted feature geometric primitives to obtain matched extracted feature geometric primitives;
• reconstructing coordinates of the matched extracted feature geometric primitives and positions and orientations of the visual sensor;
• optimizing the reconstructed coordinates to obtain a calculation result, wherein the calculation result includes the feature geometric primitives, the positions and orientations of the visual sensor, as well as visible constraint relationships between the feature geometric primitives and the positions and orientations of the visual sensor;
• based on the obtained calculation result, detecting obstacles in the environment containing the mobile robot through dividing the 3D space of the environment containing the mobile robot into a plurality of subspaces, marking obstacle subspaces in the plurality of divided subspaces based on at least one of the feature geometric primitives, and the visible constraint relationships, and combining the obstacle subspaces into an obstacle space;
• and
• plotting a path for automatic motion of the mobile robot based on the detected obstacles.