Designing an Affordable Motion Capture System for Multi-Robot Research and Education

In this work, we propose a low-cost motion capture system for real-time tracking of multiple robots’ positions and orientations in indoor environments, specifically tailored for research and educational applications. Precise localization is essential for evaluating robotics algorithms such as decentralized multi-agent control, cooperative path planning, and collision avoidance. [1-3] However, commercial motion capture systems like Vicon and OptiTrack cost between $50,000 and $150,000, making them inaccessible for many smaller institutions, student clubs, and low-resource labs. To address this challenge, we developed an affordable alternative based on three ceiling-mounted 1080p USB cameras and AprilTags. Our system operates at 30 Hz and achieves a spatial accuracy of approximately 10 cm. The system architecture includes camera calibration (intrinsic and extrinsic), pose estimation using solvePnP, coordinate fusion, and TCP-based data streaming. Its effectiveness was validated through real-to-simulation and simulation-to-real experiments involving multiple mobile robots. By balancing accuracy, cost, and scalability, the system provides a practical and accessible platform for real-time multi-robot tracking.