Evolution Robotics™ Introduces Breakthrough Solution for Robot Navigation

Printer-friendly versionPDF version

Evolution Robotics' Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
Technology Marks a Major Milestone for the Personal, Mobile Robotics Industry

Las Vegas, NV January 8th, 2003 Evolution Robotics Inc., a leading provider of state-of-the-art robotics software technologies and a 2003 CES Innovations Award Honoree, today announced a first-of-its-kind, breakthrough navigation technology for robot localization and mapping. The Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping technology (vSLAM) enables a robot to determine its own position relative to its environment. This technology is a major achievement in robot navigation, enabling manufacturers to develop a new generation of useful robotic products with more intelligence than previously possible.

Using only a low-cost camera and wheel encoders as sensors, vSLAM is a very affordable solution for localization and mapping it can mean the difference between using a $50 web cam and a $5000 laser range finder. The significance of this technology is that it now enables manufacturers to develop practical and useful robotic products for the mass consumer market.

Our vSLAM technology for localization and mapping brings us a large step closer to realizing our vision of a robot in every home and workplace. For the first time, it is possible to integrate reliable navigation technologies into personal robots at an affordable cost, which we hope will result in a new generation of products that were previously inconceivable, commented Paolo Pirjanian, Chief Scientist at Evolution Robotics and former roboticist with Jet Propulsion Laboratories, who directed the R&D efforts for the development of vSLAM.

Because of its low cost and robust performance in realistic environments, the vSLAM technology is particularly well-suited for use in consumer and commercial applications including patrolling for security, package delivery, autonomous vacuuming or floor-care, and material handling.

With this novel approach to localization and mapping, the robot builds a visual map consisting of a set of unique landmarks created as the robot explores its environment. A landmark is an image of a scene that is uniquely identified using a sophisticated vision algorithm developed at Evolution Robotics. As the robot revisits mapped areas, it uses recognized landmarks to estimate its own position. Furthermore, it gradually updates and refines the map allowing it to adapt to changes in the environment such as rearranged furniture or objects.

The key to our success in providing a reliable, yet cost-effective, solution to localization is the use of vision processing, in combination with sophisticated probabilistic methods for position estimation, commented Drs. Luis Goncalves and Niklas Karlsson, two of the lead scientists behind the invention.

Evolution Robotics offers vSLAM and other breakthrough robotics technologies to OEMs interested in building new personal robot products, or embedding robotics capabilities into existing products. Evolution Robotics vSLAM technology is available on Windows and Linux, as part of the Evolution Robotics Software Platform (ERSP), a robust robotics software architecture and application development platform.

About Evolution Robotics

Evolution Robotics, www.evolution.com, develops and licenses state-of-the-art robotics software technologies and applications that assist manufacturers in bringing robotics products to market.

The Evolution Robotics Software Platform or ERSP includes a state-of-the-art robotics software architecture, application development tools and core robotic functionality modules such as object recognition, visual navigation, speech recognition, and human-robot interaction. In January 2003, Evolution Robotics introduced a new multi-purpose personal robot built entirely using the ERSP that demonstrates the extent of the software platform's capabilities. The company also makes its technologies available to the developer community through the ER1, a programmable robot kit that can be purchased on the Evolution Robotics website and at leading technology retailers. Evolution Robotics mission is to accelerate the personal robot industry and help spur the creation of a variety of highly functional personal robot products that will become indispensable in our daily lives, at home and at work. Evolution Robotics is an operating company of Idealab, a creator and operator of technology businesses.

http://www.evolution.com/news/release/CPJ-L