Robots used for pipe inspection have been studied for a long time and many mobile mechanisms have been proposed to achieve inspection tasks within pipelines. Localization is an important factor for an inpipe robot to perform successful autonomous operation. However, sensors such as GPS and beacons cannot be used because of the unique characteristics of inpipe conditions. In this paper, an inpipe localization algorithm based on elbow detection is presented. By processing the projected marker images of laser pointers and the attitude and heading data from an IMU, the odometer module of the robot determines whether the robot is within a straight pipe or an elbow and minimizes the integration error in the orientation. In addition, an off-line positioning algorithm has been performed with forward and backward estimation and Procrustes analysis. The experimental environment has consisted of several straight pipes and elbows, and a map of the pipeline has been constructed as the result.