FLIVVER: Fly Lobula Inspired Visual Velocity Estimation & Ranging

TL;DR

FLIVVER is a biologically inspired algorithm that estimates absolute velocity and distance using optic flow and acceleration, offering a simple, efficient alternative to complex SLAM methods for tiny robots.

Contribution

The paper introduces FLIVVER, a novel insect-inspired algorithm that directly estimates absolute velocity from optic flow and acceleration, bypassing complex computations used in traditional SLAM.

Findings

Successfully estimates absolute velocity using optic flow and acceleration.

Provides a biologically plausible model for insect velocity estimation.

Lays groundwork for efficient analog circuitry in insect-sized robots.

Abstract

The mechanism by which a tiny insect or insect-sized robot could estimate its absolute velocity and distance to nearby objects remains unknown. However, this ability is critical for behaviors that require estimating wind direction during flight, such as odor-plume tracking. Neuroscience and behavior studies with insects have shown that they rely on the perception of image motion, or optic flow, to estimate relative motion, equivalent to a ratio of their velocity and distance to objects in the world. The key open challenge is therefore to decouple these two states from a single measurement of their ratio. Although modern SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) methods provide a solution to this problem for robotic systems, these methods typically rely on computations that insects likely cannot perform, such as simultaneously tracking multiple individual visual features, remembering a 3D map of the world, and solving nonlinear optimization problems using iterative algorithms. Here we present a novel algorithm, FLIVVER, which combines the geometry of dynamic forward motion with inspiration from insect visual processing to \textit{directly} estimate absolute ground velocity from a combination of optic flow and acceleration information. Our algorithm provides a clear hypothesis for how insects might estimate absolute velocity, and also provides a theoretical framework for designing fast analog circuitry for efficient state estimation, which could be applied to insect-sized robots.