Methods and systems for providing landmarks to facilitate robot localization and visual odometry

摘要

Methods and systems for providing landmarks to facilitate robot localization and visual odometry are provided herein. At least one area of a physical environment in which a robotic device resides may be determined to include surfaces that lack sufficient discernable features to determine a location of the at least one area. Instructions may responsively be provided to the robotic device for the robotic device to provide a material in respective patterns onto one or more surfaces of the at least one area. Instructions can responsively be provided for the robotic device to provide the material in respective textures as well. The respective patterns or textures may include sufficient discernable features to determine a location of the at least one area, and the material may remain on the one or more surfaces for a predetermined period of time.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
acquiring, by a computing device, at least one image of one or more surfaces of at least one area of a physical environment in which a robotic device resides; engaging in an attempt to extract discernable features from the at least one image, whereby a number of discernable features are extracted; based on a determination that the number of discernable features that are extracted is below a threshold, determining that the one or more surfaces lack sufficient discernable features to determine a location of the at least one area in the physical environment; and in response to determining that the one or more surfaces lack sufficient discernable features to determine a location of the at least one area in the physical environment, providing instructions to the robotic device to provide a material in respective patterns onto the one or more surfaces of the at least one area, wherein the respective patterns include sufficient discernable features to determine a location of the at least one area in the physical environment, and wherein the material is predicted to remain on the one or more surfaces for a predetermined period of time.