What is it about?
Fiducial markers play a crucial role in localization, navigation, and tracking systems, particularly in robotics. However, widely used marker detection methods relying on RGB cameras often fail in low-light or no-light environments, where traditional black-and-white markers become ineffective. To address this challenge, we propose a Variable Lighting Conditions Fiducial Marker (VLCFM) system that enhances detection accuracy across diverse lighting conditions, ensuring reliable performance in complete darkness while remaining undetectable to the human eye.
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Photo by Krzysztof Hepner on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Reliable localization is fundamental for robotics, AR/VR, and autonomous systems. Current fiducial markers depend on visible-light cameras and quickly fail in low-light conditions, limiting where these systems can operate. A marker that works both in darkness and normal lighting—while remaining invisible to humans—removes this limitation and significantly expands the environments where robots and tracking systems can function safely and accurately.
Perspectives
The VLCFM system opens new research avenues in robust localization under uncontrolled lighting. Future work includes integrating VLCFM with multi-sensor fusion pipelines, optimizing marker design for longer ranges, and extending detection capabilities to additional spectral bands. This technology also has strong potential for deployment in autonomous robotics, AR/VR, and industrial environments requiring reliable tracking in darkness.
Barbara Morawska
Lodz University of Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Poster: A Real-Time Localization System for Visible and Invisible Fiducial Markers Under Variable Lighting Conditions, November 2025, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3680207.3765691.
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