vSLAM (visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) enables localization and mapping using a single low-cost camera and dead reckoning to make visual measurements of the environment. This technology is a major achievement in autonomous navigation, enabling manufacturers to develop a new generation of useful robotic products and devices with more intelligence than previously possible.

With vSLAM, a robot or device captures visual landmarks and uses them to build a map of its environment. As the product moves through the area it has mapped, it navigates based on recognized visual landmarks on its map.

When entering a new environment, the vSLAM-enabled product can either load an existing map of that area or start creating a new map. The product then continues to move, detect old landmarks, create new landmarks, and correct its position information as necessary using its map.

vSLAM is primarily a software solution and requires little if any new hardware on the device it enables. Additionally, because vSLAM develops a map for navigation, that map can be used for other purposes such as a unique user interface to the product, or a historical record of the product's travels.