======== Odometry ======== Odometry is the use of data from motion sensors to estimate change in position over time. It is used in robotics by some legged or wheeled robots to **estimate their position relative to a starting location**. .. tip:: Origin of word "odometry": Greek hodos (way) + metron (measure). Visual Odometry =============== Visual odometry is the process of determining the position and orientation of a robot by analyzing the associated camera images. VIO (Visual Inertial Odometry) ------------------------------ Visual Inertial Odometry is like Visual Odometry but it also uses data from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to estimate the position and orientation of a robot. ROS packages and messages ========================= * `geometry_msgs/Twist `_ - this expresses velocity in free space broken into its linear and angular parts * `geometry_msgs/Pose `_ - a representation of pose in free space, composed of position and orientation * `nav_msgs/Odometry `_ - this represents an estimate of a position (Pose) and velocity (Twist) in free space