1. A mobile robot configured to navigate an operating environment, comprising: a body containing: a drive configured to translate the robot in a direction of motion; a machine vision system comprising a camera that captures images of the operating environment of the mobile robot; a processor; memory containing a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) application and a behavioral control application: wherein the behavioral control application directs the processor to: capture images using the machine vision system; detect the presence of an occlusion obstructing a portion of the field of view of the camera based on the captured images; and generate a notification when an occlusion obstructing the portion of the field of view of the camera is detected; and wherein the behavioral control application further directs the processor to maintain occlusion detection data describing occluded and unobstructed portions of images being used by the SLAM application.