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Evolving Real-time Stereo Odometry for AUV Navigation in Challenging Marine Environments

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Abstract

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) navigation and control modules often integrate as much sensory data as possible to increase accuracy in estimating pose and velocity. Visual odometry can be a good complement for robot localization when it navigates in challenging underwater scenarios, such as those colonized with seagrass or algae. Thanks to the wide variety of cameras available on the market, their increased performance and moderated cost; this type of sensor now can be used in marine robots. The work proposed in this paper increases the robustness of contemporary feature-based visual odometers for application in such environments by evolving a state-of-the-art approach; ensuring the tracking of visual keypoints that are geometrically and photometrically invariant, highly distinguishable, and exhibit strong repeatability. Experimental results, obtained from visual datasets captured by a stereoscopic camera installed on an AUV while performing different missions in large areas of the Balearic Islands with special ecological interest, show the improvement of this proposal with respect to other approaches already available and its feasibility to be used online.

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Code or Data Availability

The source code is available in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/srv/viso2/tree/melodic-new-feature-tracker.

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

Grant PID2020-115332RB-C33 is funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, identified as MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by "ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) A way of making Europe", and by the Comunitat Autonoma de les Illes Balears through the Direcció General de Política Universitaria i Recerca with funds from the Tourist Stay Tax Law (PRD2018/34).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra de Valldemossa km 7.5, Palma de Mallorca, 07122, Spain

    Bo Miquel Nordfeldt-Fiol, Francisco Bonin-Font & Gabriel Oliver

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  1. Bo Miquel Nordfeldt-Fiol
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  2. Francisco Bonin-Font
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  3. Gabriel Oliver
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Contributions

Bo Miquel Nordfeldt-Fiol contributed to the study conception and design of the work to be done, implemented the algorithms, collected the datasets, designed and did the experiments, analyze the experimental data and to write the manuscript. Francisco Bonin-Font contributed to the study conception and design of the work to be done, to design of the experiments and to write the manuscript. Gabriel Oliver Codina contributed to get and manage the funding, analyze the experimental data and to write and review the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bo Miquel Nordfeldt-Fiol.

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Nordfeldt-Fiol, B.M., Bonin-Font, F. & Oliver, G. Evolving Real-time Stereo Odometry for AUV Navigation in Challenging Marine Environments. J Intell Robot Syst 108, 83 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01932-0

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