Structure from motion is a technique that attempts to reconstruct the 3D structure of a scene from a sequence of images taken from a camera moving within the scene.  Structure from motion can be used on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or Unmanned Ground Vehicle for obstacle detection as well as for path-planning and navigation. The 3D structure of the scene is estimated using the optical flow values found at a set of feature points on the image.

 Collaborators:

 Graduate Students:

 Paul Merrell

1. P.C. Merrell and D.J. Lee, ”Structure from Motion Using Optical Flow Probability Distributions”, SPIE International Symposium on Defense and Security, Intelligent Computing: Theory and Applications III, vol. 5803-6, p. 39-48, Orlando, Florida, USA, March 28-April 1, 2005.

2. P.C. Merrell, D.J. Lee, and R.W. Beard, “Obstacle Avoidance for Unmanned Air Vehicles Using Optical Flow Probability Distributions”, SPIE Optics East, Robotics Technologies and Architectures, Mobile Robot XVII, vol. 5609-04, p. 13-22, Philadelphia, PA, USA, October 25-28, 2004.

3. P. Merrell, D.J. Lee, and R.W. Beard, “Statistical Analysis of Multiple Optical Flow Values for Estimation of Unmanned Air Vehicles Height Above Ground”, SPIE Optics East, Robotics Technologies and Architectures, Intelligent Robots and Computer Vision XXII, vol. 5608, p. 298-305, Philadelphia, PA, USA, October 25-28, 2004.