Learning to Segment Dynamic Objects using SLAM Outliers

We present a method to automatically learn to segment dynamic objects using SLAM outliers. It requires only one monocular sequence per dynamic object for training and consists in localizing dynamic objects using SLAM outliers, creating their masks, and using these masks to train a semantic segmentation network. We integrate the trained network in ORB-SLAM 2 and LDSO. At runtime we remove features on dynamic objects, making the SLAM unaffected by them. We also propose a new stereo dataset and new metrics to evaluate SLAM robustness. Our dataset includes consensus inversions, i.e., situations where the SLAM uses more features on dynamic objects that on the static background. Consensus inversions are challenging for SLAM as they may cause major SLAM failures. Our approach performs better than the State-of-the-Art on the TUM RGB-D dataset in monocular mode and on our dataset in both monocular and stereo modes.Comment: Accepted to ICPR 202

SPLODE: Semi-Probabilistic Point and Line Odometry with Depth Estimation from RGB-D Camera Motion

Active depth cameras suffer from several limitations, which cause incomplete and noisy depth maps, and may consequently affect the performance of RGB-D Odometry. To address this issue, this paper presents a visual odometry method based on point and line features that leverages both measurements from a depth sensor and depth estimates from camera motion. Depth estimates are generated continuously by a probabilistic depth estimation framework for both types of features to compensate for the lack of depth measurements and inaccurate feature depth associations. The framework models explicitly the uncertainty of triangulating depth from both point and line observations to validate and obtain precise estimates. Furthermore, depth measurements are exploited by propagating them through a depth map registration module and using a frame-to-frame motion estimation method that considers 3D-to-2D and 2D-to-3D reprojection errors, independently. Results on RGB-D sequences captured on large indoor and outdoor scenes, where depth sensor limitations are critical, show that the combination of depth measurements and estimates through our approach is able to overcome the absence and inaccuracy of depth measurements.Comment: IROS 201

D2D^2SLAM: Decentralized and Distributed Collaborative Visual-inertial SLAM System for Aerial Swarm

In recent years, aerial swarm technology has developed rapidly. In order to accomplish a fully autonomous aerial swarm, a key technology is decentralized and distributed collaborative SLAM (CSLAM) for aerial swarms, which estimates the relative pose and the consistent global trajectories. In this paper, we propose $D^2$SLAM: a decentralized and distributed ($D^2$) collaborative SLAM algorithm. This algorithm has high local accuracy and global consistency, and the distributed architecture allows it to scale up. $D^2$SLAM covers swarm state estimation in two scenarios: near-field state estimation for high real-time accuracy at close range and far-field state estimation for globally consistent trajectories estimation at the long-range between UAVs. Distributed optimization algorithms are adopted as the backend to achieve the $D^2$ goal. $D^2$SLAM is robust to transient loss of communication, network delays, and other factors. Thanks to the flexible architecture, $D^2$SLAM has the potential of applying in various scenarios

A hardware accelerator for ORB-SLAM

Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) is a key component of self-driving cars. We study ORB-SLAM, a SLAM state-of-the-art solution, and develop a hardware accelerator for a critical part of it: ORB feature extraction. The accelerator achieve 8x speedup and 2000x energy consumption reduction