Closed-Loop Benchmarking of Stereo Visual-Inertial SLAM Systems: Understanding the Impact of Drift and Latency on Tracking Accuracy
Abstract
Visual-inertial SLAM is essential for robot navigation in GPS-denied environments, e.g. indoor, underground. Conventionally, the performance of visual-inertial SLAM is evaluated with open-loop analysis, with a focus on the drift level of SLAM systems. In this paper, we raise the question on the importance of visual estimation latency in closed-loop navigation tasks, such as accurate trajectory tracking. To understand the impact of both drift and latency on visual-inertial SLAM systems, a closed-loop benchmarking simulation is conducted, where a robot is commanded to follow a desired trajectory using the feedback from visual-inertial estimation. By extensively evaluating the trajectory tracking performance of representative state-of-the-art visual-inertial SLAM systems, we reveal the importance of latency reduction in visual estimation module of these systems. The findings suggest directions of future improvements for visual-inertial SLAM.
- Publication:
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arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- March 2020
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.2003.01317
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2003.01317
- Bibcode:
- 2020arXiv200301317Z
- Keywords:
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- Computer Science - Robotics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in ICRA 2020