1. A method of detecting an obstacle in a field of view of a mobile platform having a base structure, a drive mechanism and a machine vision system, comprising: capturing an image in the form of a signal; converting the signal into a digital image having a plurality of pixels and inverting the digital image; normalizing the digital image by setting pixels in the plurality of pixels having an intensity value away from a histogram global maximum to a first predetermined intensity and setting pixels in the plurality of pixels having intensity values close to the global maximum to a second predetermined intensity; performing edge detection on the normalized digital image, thereby outputting a bounding graph indicating edges of detected objects in the image; and determining local maximums and zeros in the graph, and determining a dynamic mask based on said maximums and zeros, wherein the dynamic mask is applied to a second digital image to determine the presence of an object, wherein pixels having intensity value away from the global maximum of the histogram are assigned a first intensity value I 1 , and pixels which have intensity values close to the global maximum, are assigned a second intensity value I 2 .