Reconstruction of 3D indoor model by scalable sensing using mobile robot

Abstract

To construct a 3D model of an environment with minimal information loss, integrated sensor data from many viewpoints are needed. However, this increases the amount of useless data, and it also takes too much time. Based on this problem, we developed a scalable sensing scheme using a robot system to reconstruct indoor environments. We mounted a freely rotating range sensor on a mobile robot to acquire range data in a real office environment, and we constructed a 3D model of that environment. The scheme determines the frequency of the measurement in each direction according to the complexity of the shape. If the shape on the direction of the sensor's angle is simple, the frequency of the measurement becomes low. On the other hand, if the shape is compleex, the frequency is high. It also does not acquire data in areas that have alreaedy been measured. The results showed that a 3D model can be constructed with less frequent measurements with our scheme.