CamVox

A Low-cost and Accurate Lidar-assisted Visual SLAM System

We propose CamVox by adapting Livox lidars into visual SLAM (ORB-SLAM2) by exploring the lidars’ unique features. Based on the non-repeating nature of Livox lidars, we propose an automatic lidar-camera calibration method that will work in uncontrolled scenes. The long depth detection range also benefit a more efficient mapping. Comparison of CamVox with visual SLAM (VINS-mono) and lidar SLAM (livox_horizon_loam) are evaluated on the same dataset to demonstrate the performance.

Developer: Yuewen Zhu, Chunran Zheng, Chongjian Yuan

Our related video: our related videos are now available on [YouTube Video] [bilibili Video].

1. Prerequisites

1.1 Ubuntu and ROS

Ubuntu 64-bit 16.04 or 18.04. ROS Kinetic or Melodic. Follow ROS Installation.

1.2 Pangolin

We use Pangolin for visualization and user interface. Follow Pangolin Installation.

1.3 OpenCV

We use OpenCV to manipulate images and features. Follow Opencv Installation. Required at leat 2.4.3. Tested with OpenCV 2.4.11 and OpenCV 3.2.

1.4 Eigen3

Follow Eigen Installation. Required at least 3.1.0.

1.5 Ceres Solver

Follow Ceres Installation.

2. Build CamVox

Clone the repository and catkin_make:

    cd ~/catkin_ws/src
    git clone https://github.com/ISEE-Technology/CamVox
    cd ../
    catkin_make
    source ~/catkin_ws/devel/setup.bash

3. Run with Hardware

3.1 Hardware

Platform	Item	Pics	Shopping Link
	Livox Horizon		Lidar
	MV-CE060-10UC		Camera
	Inertial Sense uINS		RTK
	Manifold2C		Onboard-Computer
	Scout-mini		Robot Chassis

3.2 Hard Synchronization

Hard synchronization is performed with all of these sensors by a trigger signal of 10 Hz. The camera output at each trigger signal(10 Hz). The lidar keeps a clock (synced with GPS-RTK) and continuously outputs the scanned point with an accurate timestamp. In the meantime, the IMU outputs at a frequency of 200 Hz synced with the trigger. The Hardware Synchronization diagram is as follows.

3.3 Running

Connect to your PC to Livox Horizon lidar by following Livox-ros-driver installation.

    roslaunch CamVox CamVox_test.launch
    roslaunch MVS MVS.launch
    roslaunch livox_ros_driver livox_lidar.launch

4. Run with Rosbag Example

4.1 SUSTech Dataset (Loop Closure)

We open sourced our dataset in SUSTech campus with loop closure. Download here.

4.2 Rosbag Example with static scenes (Automatic Calibration trigger)

We provide a rosbag file with static scenes to test the automatic calibration thread. Download here.
The effects of automatic calibration is shown as follows.

4.3 Running

    roslaunch CamVox CamVox_test.launch
    roslaunch MVS MVS.launch
    rosbag play YOUR_DOWNLOADED.bag

5. Acknowledgements

The authors thank colleagues at Livox Technology for helpful discussion and support.
The repository is from ISEE.

6. License

The source code is released under GPLv2 license.