This paper presents an obstacle detection algorithm based on the consecutive and the cooperative range sensor scanning schemes. For a known environment, a mobile robot scans the surroundings using a range sensor that can rotate 3600°. The environment is rebuilt using nodes of two adjacent walls. The robot configuration is then estimated and an obstacle is detected by comparing characteristic points of the sensor readings. In order to extract edges from noisy and inaccurate sensor readings, a filtering algorithm is developed. For multiple robot localization, a cooperative scanning method with sensor range limit is developed. Both are verified with simulation and experiments.