Experimental results of a differential Optic-Flow System

Visual odometry through the use of optical-flow has drawn significant interest within the robotics and navigation community. Its implementation provides a self-contained system which is well aligned to the biological strategy employed by flying insects. There have been several progressions in using optic-flow measurement combined with other sensors like GPS or ultrasonics to resolve depth and velocity information. Although the results are promising, they are not fully self-contained and rely on additional sensors for external information. As a self-contained system, a differential optic-flow system had been developed which addresses this issue. This paper will provide experimental results of the performance of a differential optic flow system in both an indoor and outdoor environment. From these experiments it was found that the system performed better within the outdoor setting than the indoor setting due to the rich textures and good lighting conditions found within an outdoor environment