Monocular Dense Reconstruction

Monocular dense reconstruction is the problem of estimating dense and accurate 3D maps from a single moving camera.

REMODE (REgularized, probabilistic, MOnocular, DEnse reconstruction) is a novel method to estimate dense and accurate depth maps from a single moving camera. A probabilistic depth measurement is carried out in real time on a per-pixel basis and the computed uncertainty is used to reject erroneous estimations and provide live feedback on the reconstruction progress. REMODE uses a novel approach to depth map computation that combines Bayesian estimation and recent development on convex optimization for image processing. In the paper, we demonstrate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art techniques in terms of accuracy, while exhibiting high efficiency in memory usage and computing power. Our CUDA-based implementation runs at 50Hz on a laptop computer and is released as open-source software (code here).

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In this video, we demonstrate the use of REMODE on our micro quadrotor, which is used as an autonomous flying 3D scanner. Our quadrotor flies autonomously over an area of interest using only a single onboard, downward-looking camera and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). All flight-relevant computation is performed onboard, on a smartphone processor. No pilot, GPS, or motion-capture system is used. Since the drone currently does not have a GPU, images down to a laptop computer, where the dense 3D model of the environment is computed online. Our algorithms are so efficient that we can create these models in real-time, thus showing the progress of the dense 3D model in real time. Thus, our system has high potential for applications where detailed information about an unknown environment is time critical, such as during search-and-rescue missions.

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