METHOD AND DEVICE FOR RECOGNIZING STAIRWAY

PURPOSE:To calculate and recognize principal dimensions of a stairway, such as the width, the width of all steps, the height of each step, etc., by finding a picture of the stairway obtained by an image pickup means mounted on a movable robot as segments of a line. CONSTITUTION:A movable robot 2 is equipped with a TV camera 3, lighting means 4, movement controlling device 5, moved distance detecting means 6, etc. This robot 2 is placed in front of a stairway 1 so that the robot 2 faces to the stairway 1, and the image of the stairway 1 is picked up by the TV camera 3. Then the robot 2 is moved and the image of the stairway 1 is again picked up. Each picture of the stairway 1 thus obtained from different image pickup points is measured as segments of a line. The measured values and the moved distance of the camera 3 obtained from the moved distance detecting means 6 are fed to an arithmetic device 8 and prescribed arithmetic operations are performed. Therefore, the principal dimensions of the stairway 1, such as the width of the stairway, the width of all steps, the height of each step, etc., can be operated and recognized in this way.