With the Vision-RTK 2, Husarion’s Panther autonomous robotic platform offers seamless navigation in mixed indoor-outdoor environments– requiring no additional infrastructure.
For nearly a decade, Husarion has been offering top-tier robotics products and services to universities, research institutions, and commercial enterprises. Their mobile robotic development platforms, software assets, and connectivity solutions allow users to easily and efficiently build autonomous systems based on ROS and ROS 2, simplifying the design, prototyping, and deployment of robotic systems for the most challenging applications.
As autonomous mobile robots (AMR) are increasingly relied on in urban and industrial environments, Husarion is taking them far off the beaten path. Their rugged IP54/IP66-rated Panther AMR thrives in harsh environments, addressing growing demand for outdoor mobile platforms in a broad range of sectors, including agriculture, construction, logistics, and mining. 
Targeting a broad palette of use cases lets Husarion leverage economies of scale and offer the Panther at competitive pricing. Designed for maximum versatility from the ground up, the autonomous robotic platform adapts to any environment. Moreover, users can upgrade the robotic platform with various components such as cameras, liDAR, robotic arms, connectivity modules, or even custom modules developed by clients.
Seamless indoor/outdoor positioning: A non-negotiable requirement
Vital to many of the Panther’s use cases is the ability to reliably track its position indoors, outdoors, and in challenging GNSS signal environments. “In the past, our clients often struggled with inaccurate localization in environments where GNSS signals were weak or temporarily unavailable, limiting the efficiency of tasks relying on autonomous navigation,” says Dominik Nowak CEO and Co-Founder at Husarion.
“While solutions exist for indoor or outdoor navigation, what’s been missing is a cost-effective solution that works effectively in both environments. We experimented with UWB-based navigation to address these issues. This, however, led to new challenges, including setting up and maintaining tags and other required infrastructure as well as increased energy requirements,” he says.
A winning fusion of GNSS and visual odometry
Upon discovering the Vision-RTK 2, the R&D team at Husarion immediately recognized the solution’s potential. “We felt that combining GNSS and visual odometry could solve the problem of mixed indoor/outdoor localization,” says Dominik Nowak. “That’s why we arranged to test the Vision-RTK 2 sensor to see how well it performs.”
This involved integrating the sensor with Panther, testing it extensively, and preparing an open-source demo project for customers, along with an easy-to-use Docker image. The impressive performance of the GNSS and visual odometry sensor fusion combined with an open-source ROS driver and competent technical support provided by Fixposition allowed a single ROS developer at Husarion to prepare a demo and a Docker image for the Vision-RTK 2 module in just one week.
“It only took about a week for one ROS developer to prepare our demo and Docker image for the Vision-RTK 2 module.”
A game-changer at an affordable price
The result perfectly met their expectations. “Thanks to the Vision-RTK 2, we have introduced a solution to the problem of mixed indoor/outdoor positioning to our portfolio that is easily available for our customers. This frees users from having to address inaccurate localization on their own or resorting to a less cost-effective UWB solution,” says Dominik Nowak. 
Asked whether he would recommend Vision-RTK 2 to others, he was unequivocal: “Absolutely! It solves problems with mixed indoor/outdoor localization with high precision thanks to good GNSS and visual odometry sensor fusion. The availability of an open-source ROS driver simplified management and customization on our end. Finally, communication with Fixposition’s technical support was smooth, and the team always provided helpful answers.” positively says Dominik Nowak.
The Vision-RTK 2 solves problems with mixed indoor/outdoor localization with high precision thanks to good GNSS and visual odometry sensor fusion.
Learn more about Husarion’s Panther with Vision-RTK 2
Husarion’s Panther autonomous robotic platform is available on their website at https://husarion.com. A comprehensive manual outlining the Vision-RTK 2 option for Panther can be found here. To explore their demo project, which integrates Vision-RTK 2 with the Panther AMR, visit their GitHub page. There, you’ll also find the docker-ized Fixposition ROS 2 driver for Vision-RTK 2.
To learn more about how the Vision-RTK 2 can benefit your autonomous solution reach out to our Fixposition's sales team: sales@fixposition.com.
