An experimental study on using visual odometry for short-run self localization of field robot

One of the most challenging problems of field robots is self-localization, which involves incremental update of position while in motion. Though wheel based odometry is cheaper to implement its accuracy degrades when wheels slip. In this paper performance of low-cost visual odometry approach is experimented as a feasibility test for field robot localization. We have used a downward-facing camera and tested localization error in view of various parameters such as frame size, frame rate, etc. A FFT-based image registration techniques was utilized to determine the precise translation distances and heading between consecutive frames captured from ground surface. Basic navigation experiments, including a loop-closing test and error propagation were conducted and interesting numerical results have been reported.