Planar Motion and Visual Odometry: Pose Estimation from Homographies

Abstract:
This thesis concerns ego-motion and pose estimation of a single camera under the assumptions of planar motion and constant internal camera parameters. Planar motion is common for cameras mounted onto mobile robots, particularly in indoor scenarios, as they remain at a constant height above the ground plane. In Paper A, a parametrisation of the camera motion and pose is presented, along with an iterative approach for determining the parameters. Paper B describes how to extend the method in Paper A to use more than one homography at a time in the estimation process, thereby improving the estimation accuracy and robustness. Paper C presents an alternative method for estimating the distance between camera positions that is independent of the estimated orientation of the cameras.