Robust Vision-based Obstacle Avoidance for Micro Aerial Vehicles in Dynamic Environments

Abstract: In this paper, we present an on-board vision-based approach for avoidance of moving obstacles in dynamic environments. Our approach relies on an efficient obstacle detection and tracking algorithm based on depth image pairs, which provides the estimated position, velocity and size of the obstacles. Robust collision avoidance is achieved by formulating a chance-constrained model predictive controller (CC-MPC) to ensure that the collision probability between the micro aerial vehicle (MAV) and each moving obstacle is below a specified threshold. The method takes into account MAV dynamics, state estimation and obstacle sensing uncertainties. The proposed approach is implemented on a quadrotor equipped with a stereo camera and is tested in a variety of environments, showing effective on-line collision avoidance of moving obstacles.