Research groups called upon to trial new VI Sensor developed by ICARUS consortium member, Skybotix.

Skybotix, a member of the ICARUS consortium, has announced an Early Adopter Programme for its newly developed Visual-Inertial (VI) sensor that can be used in Unmanned Vehicles and robotic devices to help save lives during crises and emergencies. The sensor was developed in collaboration with the Autonomous Systems Lab at ETH (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich, Switzerland.

Research teams from around the world will now have the opportunity to be the first to test the innovative product for a discounted price of 3,900 euros and their feedback will be used to further enhance the technology. It is anticipated that the Early Adopter Programme will improve the VI sensor from a ‘market-ready’ product to a user-friendly tool that can be integrated into robotic devices that save the lives of victims in disasters and crises.

The sensor is a light-weight, time-synchronised hardware platform for visual-inertial odometry applications, where data from moving sensors is collected to estimate changes in a robot’s position over time.  It features a high-quality global shutter HDR stereoscopic camera and an industrial-grade inertial measurement system.

Research organisations and groups can register their interest in the Early Adopter Programme by clicking on the following link: http://www.skybotix.com/vi-sensor-early-adopter-application/

The next upgrade to the sensor is scheduled to take place by the end of July 2014. The final product is expected to be available in early 2015.