SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION USING VISUAL SPARSE MAP

A system and method for autonomous navigation using a visual sparse map. The system includes a robotic device having an RGB-D camera, a processor and a storage device storing computer executable code. The computer executable code is configured to: obtain the visual sparse map based on captured RGB-D images; capture an RGB image; acquire a current pose of the robotic device; find a keyframes nearest to the current pose of the robotic device; find a target waypoint that is ahead of the nearest keyframe at about a pre-defined distance; compute transition velocity and rotation velocity of the robotic device based on relative location between the robotic device and the target waypoint; and control operation of the robotic device using the computed transition velocity and rotation velocity to achieve autonomous navigation.