Development of a Low-Cost Vision-Based Localisation System for the Experimental Mars Rover

Accurate localisation is a valuable tool for the validation of many autonomous and teleoperated vehicles in both indoor and outdoor environments. For planetary robotic research platforms such as the Experimental Mars Rover (EMR) in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, consistent and accurate pose information is essential for validation of experiments in control, planning and teleoperation. This paper describes the development of a vision based, low cost, real-time localisation system, suitable for indoor robotics applications. The system utilises the existing constellation of fiducial markers in the Mars Yard and it is robust to adverse lighting conditions. Pose estimation is obtained by fusing vision data from a single camera and the inertial data from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The system is successfully integrated with the EMR platform and used for a number of autonomous and teleoperation missions in the Mars Yard.