Monocular Vision-Based Localization Using ORB-SLAM with LIDAR-Aided Mapping in Real-World Robot Challenge

[abstFig src='/00280004/06.jpg' width='300' text='Monocular Visual Localization in Tsukuba Challenge 2015. Left: result of localization inside the map created by ORB-SLAM. Right: position tracking at starting point.' ] For the 2015 Tsukuba Challenge, we realized an implementation of vision-based localization based on ORB-SLAM. Our method combined mapping based on ORB-SLAM and Velodyne LIDAR SLAM, and utilized these maps in a localization process using only a monocular camera. We also apply sensor fusion method of odometer and ORB-SLAM from all maps. The combined method delivered better accuracy than the original ORB-SLAM, which suffered from scale ambiguities and map distance distortion. This paper reports on our experience when using ORB-SLAM for visual localization, and describes the difficulties encountered.