Real Time Optical Flow

Question

I'm using optical flow as a real time obstacle detection and avoidance system for the visually impaired. I'm developing the application in c# and using Emgu Cv for image processing. I use the Lucas and Kanade method and I'm pretty satisfied with the speed of the algorithm. I am using monocular vision thus making it hard for me to compute the depth accurately to each of the features being tracked and to alert the user accordingly. I plan on using an ultrasonic sensor to help with the obstacle detection due to the fact that depth computation is hard with monocular camera. Any suggestions on how I could get an accurate estimation of depth using the camera alone?

Answer 1

You might want to check out this paper: A Robust Visual Odometry and Precipice Detection System Using Consumer-grade Monocular Vision. They usea nice trick for detecting as well obstacles as holes in the field of view.