Provided is an apparatus for recognizing the position of a mobile robot. The apparatus includes an image capturing unit which is loaded into a mobile robot and captures an image; an illuminance determining unit which determines illuminance at a position where an image is to be captured; a light-emitting unit which emits light toward the position; a light-emitting control unit which controls the light-emitting unit according to the determined illuminance; a driving control unit which controls the speed of the mobile robot according to the determined illuminance; and a position recognizing unit which recognizes the position of the mobile robot by comparing a pre-stored image to the captured image.