This paper deals with the perception of mobile robotic systems within the framework of interactive perception, and inspired by the sensorimotor contingencies (SMC) theory. These approaches state that perception arises from active explo- ration of an environment. In the SMC theory, it is postulated that information about the structure of space could be recovered from a quasi-uninterpreted sensorimotor flow. In a recent article, the authors have provided a mathematical framework for the construction of a sensorimotor representation of the interaction between the sensors and the body of a naive agent, provided that the sensory inputs come from the agent’s own body. An extension of these results, with stimulations coming from an unknown changing environment, is proposed in this paper. More precisely it is demonstrated that, through repeated explorations of its motor configurations, the perceived sensory invariants can be exploited to build a topologically accurate internal representation of the relative poses of the agent’s sensors in the physical world. Precise theoretical considerations are provided as well as an experimental framework. Finally, some examples that serve as proofs of concepts are analysed in both simulated and realistic environments.