# Deep Learning-Powered Visual SLAM Aimed at Assisting Visually Impaired Navigation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.20549 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.20549/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 15 of its 32 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Oct 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [ORB-SLAM: a Versatile and Accurate Monocular SLAM System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.00956/) (2015)
- [ORB-SLAM3: An Accurate Open-Source Library for Visual, Visual-Inertial and Multi-Map SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.11898/) (2020)
- [DROID-SLAM: Deep Visual SLAM for Monocular, Stereo, and RGB-D Cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.10869/) (2021)
- [LightGlue: Local Feature Matching at Light Speed](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13643/) (2023)
- [TartanAir: A Dataset to Push the Limits of Visual SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.14338/) (2020)
- [VINS-Mono: A Robust and Versatile Monocular Visual-Inertial State Estimator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.03852/) (2017)
- [Deep Patch Visual Odometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.04726/) (2022)
- [DeepVO: Towards End-to-End Visual Odometry with Deep Recurrent Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.08429/) (2017)
- [TartanVO: A Generalizable Learning-based VO](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.00359/) (2020)
- [Towards Better Generalization: Joint Depth-Pose Learning without PoseNet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.01314/) (2020)
- [OpenVSLAM: A Versatile Visual SLAM Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.01122/) (2019)
- [iDF-SLAM: End-to-End RGB-D SLAM with Neural Implicit Mapping and Deep Feature Tracking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.07919/) (2022)
- [RGB-D SLAM with Structural Regularities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.07997/) (2020)
- [Fast Direct Stereo Visual SLAM](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01890/) (2021)
- [SLAM for Visually Impaired People: a Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04745/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Despite advancements in SLAM technologies, robust operation under challenging conditions such as low-texture, motion-blur, or challenging lighting remains an open challenge. Such conditions are common in applications such as assistive navigation for the visually impaired. These challenges undermine localization accuracy and tracking stability, reducing navigation reliability and safety. To overcome these limitations, we present SELM-SLAM3, a deep learning-enhanced visual SLAM framework that integrates SuperPoint and LightGlue for robust feature extraction and matching. We evaluated our framework using TUM RGB-D, ICL-NUIM, and TartanAir datasets, which feature diverse and challenging scenarios. SELM-SLAM3 outperforms conventional ORB-SLAM3 by an average of 87.84% and exceeds state-of-the-art RGB-D SLAM systems by 36.77%. Our framework demonstrates enhanced performance under challenging conditions, such as low-texture scenes and fast motion, providing a reliable platform for developing navigation aids for the visually impaired.