Viconmavlink: A software tool for indoor positioning using a motion capture system
This tool addresses the need for precise indoor positioning for mobile robotics researchers, but it is incremental as it adapts existing technologies without new algorithmic breakthroughs.
The paper introduces ViconMAVLink, a cross-platform open-source software tool that converts Vicon motion capture data into pose and motion formats using the MAVLink protocol to provide indoor positioning services for networked robots, enabling convenient experiments in controlled indoor environments.
Motion capture is a widely-used technology in robotics research thanks to its precise posi tional measurements with real-time performance. This paper presents ViconMAVLink, a cross-platform open-source software tool that provides indoor positioning services to networked robots. ViconMAVLink converts Vicon motion capture data into proper pose and motion data formats and send localization information to robots using the MAVLink protocol. The software is a convenient tool for mobile robotics researchers to conduct experiments in a controlled indoor environment.