Robot Mapping for Rescue Robots

Abstract

Abstract — Rescue robots operate in disaster areas where odometric information is known to be highly unreliable. This paper presents a new approach to odometry independent 2D robot mapping. Scans obtained from different robot positions are assembled to a single global map using alignment based on scan intrinsic information only, namely shape features. The approach detects geometric structures in different scans which are similar by shape and aligns the scans accordingly. The detection of shape similarity is the key to generate global maps even of highly cluttered environments and thus the proposed approach is particularly suitable for applications in the field of rescue robots. I.