Abstract
Efficient and precise localization is a prerequisite for the intelligent navigation of mobile robots. Traditional visual localization systems, such as visual odometry (VO) and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), suffer from two shortcomings: a drift problem caused by accumulated localization error, and erroneous motion estimation due to illumination variation and moving objects. In this paper, we propose an enhanced VO by introducing a panoramic camera into the traditional stereo-only VO system. Benefiting from the 360° field of view, the panoramic camera is responsible for three tasks: (1) detecting road junctions and building a landmark library online; (2) correcting the robot’s position when the landmarks are revisited with any orientation; (3) working as a panoramic compass when the stereo VO cannot provide reliable positioning results. To use the large-sized panoramic images efficiently, the concept of compressed sensing is introduced into the solution and an adaptive compressive feature is presented. Combined with our previous two-stage local binocular bundle adjustment (TLBBA) stereo VO, the new system can obtain reliable positioning results in quasi-real time. Experimental results of challenging long-range tests show that our enhanced VO is much more accurate and robust than the traditional VO, thanks to the compressive panoramic landmarks built online.
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Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61071219 and 90820306) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China
ORCID: Wei LU, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7456-1834; Zhi-yu XIANG, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3329-7037
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Lu, W., Xiang, Zy. & Liu, Jl. Design of an enhanced visual odometry by building and matching compressive panoramic landmarks online. Frontiers Inf Technol Electronic Eng 16, 152–165 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1400139
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/FITEE.1400139