Research on simultaneous localization and mapping for AUV by an improved method:Variance reduction FastSLAM with simulated annealing

At present,simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) for an autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV)is a research hotspot.Aiming at the problem of non-linear model and non-Gaussian noise in AUV motion,an improved method of variance reduction fast simultaneous localization and mapping(FastSLAM) with simulated annealing is proposed to solve the problems of particle degradation,particle depletion and particle loss in traditional FastSLAM,which lead to the reduction of AUV location estimation accuracy.The adaptive exponential fading factor is generated by the anneal function of simulated annealing algorithm to improve the effective particle number and replace resampling.By increasing the weight of small particles and decreasing the weight of large particles,the variance of particle weight can be reduced,the number of effective particles can be increased,and the accuracy of AUV location and feature location estimation can be improved to some extent by retaining more information carried by particles.The experimental results based on trial data show that the proposed simulated annealing variance reduction FastSLAM method avoids particle degradation,maintains the diversity of particles,weakened the degeneracy and improves the accuracy and stability of AUV navigation and localization system.

A novel method for mobile robot simultaneous localization and mapping

A novel mobile robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method is implemented by using the Rao- Blackwellized particle filter (RBPF) for monocular vision-based autonomous robot in unknown indoor environment. The particle filter combined with unscented Kalman filter (UKF) for extending the path posterior by sampling new poses integrating the current observation. Landmark position estimation and update is implemented through UKF. Furthermore, the number of resampling steps is determined adaptively, which greatly reduces the particle depletion problem. Monocular CCD camera mounted on the robot tracks the 3D natural point landmarks structured with matching image feature pairs extracted through Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT). The matching for multi-dimension SIFT features which are highly distinctive due to a special descriptor is implemented with a KD-Tree. Experiments on the robot Pioneer3 showed that our method is very precise and stable.

Approach of simultaneous localization and mapping based on local maps for robot

An extended Kalman filter approach of simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) was proposed based on local maps. A local frame of reference was established periodically at the position of the robot, and then the observations of the robot and landmarks were fused into the global frame of reference. Because of the independence of the local map, the approach does not cumulate the estimate and calculation errors which are produced by SLAM using Kalman filter directly. At the same time, it reduces the computational complexity. This method is proven correct and feasible in simulation experiments.

Immune evolutionary algorithms with domain knowledge for simultaneous localization and mapping

Immune evolutionary algorithms with domain knowledge were presented to solve the problem of simultaneous localization and mapping for a mobile robot in unknown environments. Two operators with domain knowledge were designed in algorithms, where the feature of parallel line segments without the problem of data association was used to construct a vaccination operator, and the characters of convex vertices in polygonal obstacle were extended to develop a pulling operator of key point grid. The experimental results of a real mobile robot show that the computational expensiveness of algorithms designed is less than other evolutionary algorithms for simultaneous localization and mapping and the maps obtained are very accurate. Because immune evolutionary algorithms with domain knowledge have some advantages, the convergence rate of designed algorithms is about 44% higher than those of other algorithms.

Robust Iterated Sigma Point FastSLAM Algorithm for Mobile Robot Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

Simultaneous localization and mapping （SLAM） is a key technology for mobile robots operating under unknown environment. While FastSLAM algorithm is a popular solution to the SLAM problem, it suffers from two major drawbacks： one is particle set degeneracy due to lack of observation information in proposal distribution design of the particle filter; the other is errors accumulation caused by linearization of the nonlinear robot motion model and the nonlinear environment observation model. For the purpose of overcoming the above problems, a new iterated sigma point FastSLAM （ISP-FastSLAM） algorithm is proposed. The main contribution of the algorithm lies in the utilization of iterated sigma point Kalman filter （ISPKF）, which minimizes statistical linearization error through Gaussian-Newton iteration, to design an optimal proposal distribution of the particle filter and to estimate the environment landmarks. On the basis of Rao-Blackwellized particle filter, the proposed ISP-FastSLAM algorithm is comprised by two main parts： in the first part, an iterated sigma point particle filter （ISPPF） to localize the robot is proposed, in which the proposal distribution is accurately estimated by the ISPKF; in the second part, a set of ISPKFs is used to estimate the environment landmarks. The simulation test of the proposed ISP-FastSLAM algorithm compared with FastSLAM2.0 algorithm and Unscented FastSLAM algorithm is carried out, and the performances of the three algorithms are compared. The simulation and comparing results show that the proposed ISP-FastSLAM outperforms other two algorithms both in accuracy and in robustness. The proposed algorithm provides reference for the optimization research of FastSLAM algorithm.

Localization and mapping in urban area based on 3D point cloud of autonomous vehicles

In order to meet the application requirements of autonomous vehicles, this paper proposes a simultaneous localization and mapping （SLAM） algorithm, which uses a VoxelGrid filter to down sample the point cloud data, with the combination of iterative closest points （ICP） algorithm and Gaussian model for particles updating, the matching between the local map and the global map to quantify particles＇ importance weight. The crude estimation by using ICP algorithm can find the high probability area of autonomous vehicles＇ poses, which would decrease particle numbers, increase algorithm speed and restrain particles＇ impoverishment. The calculation of particles＇ importance weight based on matching of attribute between grid maps is simple and practicable. Experiments carried out with the autonomous vehicle platform validate the effectiveness of our approaches.

A survey: which features are required for dynamic visual simultaneous localization and mapping?

In recent years,simultaneous localization and mapping in dynamic environments(dynamic SLAM)has attracted significant attention from both academia and industry.Some pioneering work on this technique has expanded the potential of robotic applications.Compared to standard SLAM under the static world assumption,dynamic SLAM divides features into static and dynamic categories and leverages each type of feature properly.Therefore,dynamic SLAM can provide more robust localization for intelligent robots that operate in complex dynamic environments.Additionally,to meet the demands of some high-level tasks,dynamic SLAM can be integrated with multiple object tracking.This article presents a survey on dynamic SLAM from the perspective of feature choices.A discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of different visual features is provided in this article.

Rapid State Augmentation for Compressed EKF-Based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

A new method for speeding up the state augment operations involved in the compressed extended Kalman filter-based simultaneous localization and mapping （CEKF-SLAM） algorithm was proposed. State augment usually requires a fully-updated state eovariance so as to append the information of newly observed landmarks, thus computational volume increases quadratically with the number of landmarks in the whole map. It was proved that state augment can also be achieved by augmenting just one auxiliary coefficient ma- trix. This method can yield identical estimation results as those using EKF-SLAM algorithm, and computa- tional amount grows only linearly with number of increased landmarks in the local map. The efficiency of this quick state augment for CEKF-SLAM algorithm has been validated by a sophisticated simulation project.

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping System Based on Labels

In this paper a label-based simultaneous localization and mapping（ SLAM） system is proposed to provide localization to indoor autonomous robots. In the system quick response（ QR） codes encoded with serial numbers are utilized as labels. These labels are captured by two webcams,then the distances and angles between the labels and webcams are computed. Motion estimated from the two rear wheel encoders is adjusted by observing QR codes. Our system uses the extended Kalman filter（ EKF） for the back-end state estimation. The number of deployed labels controls the state estimation dimension. The label-based EKF-SLAM system eliminates complicated processes,such as data association and loop closure detection in traditional feature-based visual SLAM systems. Our experiments include software-simulation and robot-platform test in a real environment. Results demonstrate that the system has the capability of correcting accumulated errors of dead reckoning and therefore has the advantage of superior precision.

Underwater Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Based on Forward-looking Sonar

A method of underwater simultaneous localization and mapping （SLAM） based on forward-looking sonar was proposed in this paper. Positions of objects were obtained by the forward-looking sonar, and an improved association method based on an ant colony algorithm was introduced to estimate the positions. In order to improve the precision of the positions, the extended Kalman filter （EKF） was adopted. The presented algorithm was tested in a tank, and the maximum estimation error of SLAM gained was 0.25 m. The tests verify that this method can maintain better association efficiency and reduce navigatioJ~ error.

Review of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Technology in the Agricultural Environment

Simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM)is one of the most attractive research hotspots in the field of robotics,and it is also a prerequisite for the autonomous navigation of robots.It can significantly improve the autonomous navigation ability of mobile robots and their adaptability to different application environments and contribute to the realization of real-time obstacle avoidance and dynamic path planning.Moreover,the application of SLAM technology has expanded from industrial production,intelligent transportation,special operations and other fields to agricultural environments,such as autonomous navigation,independent weeding,three-dimen-sional(3D)mapping,and independent harvesting.This paper mainly introduces the principle,sys-tem framework,latest development and application of SLAM technology,especially in agricultural environments.Firstly,the system framework and theory of the SLAM algorithm are introduced,and the SLAM algorithm is described in detail according to different sensor types.Then,the devel-opment and application of SLAM in the agricultural environment are summarized from two aspects:environment map construction,and localization and navigation of agricultural robots.Finally,the challenges and future research directions of SLAM in the agricultural environment are discussed.

Mobile robot simultaneous localization and map building based on improved particle filter

We present an investigation into the use of pan tilt zoom camera and sonar sensors for simuhaneous localization and mapping with artificial colored landmarks. An improved particle filter is applied to estimate a posterior of the pose of the robot, in which each particle has associated it with an entire map. The distributions of landmarks are also represented by particle sets, where separate particles are used to represent the robot and the landmarks. Hough transform is used to extract line segments from sonar observations and build map simultaneously. The key advantage of our method is that the full posterior over robot poses and landmarks can be nonlinearly approximated at every point in time by particles. Especially the landmarks are affixed on the moving robots, which can reduce the impact of the depletion problem and the impoverishment problem produced by basic particle filter. Experimental results show that this approach has advantages over the basic particle filter and the extended Kalman filter.

Analyzing the Impact of Scene Transitions on Indoor Camera Localization through Scene Change Detection in Real-Time

Real-time indoor camera localization is a significant problem in indoor robot navigation and surveillance systems.The scene can change during the image sequence and plays a vital role in the localization performance of robotic applications in terms of accuracy and speed.This research proposed a real-time indoor camera localization system based on a recurrent neural network that detects scene change during the image sequence.An annotated image dataset trains the proposed system and predicts the camera pose in real-time.The system mainly improved the localization performance of indoor cameras by more accurately predicting the camera pose.It also recognizes the scene changes during the sequence and evaluates the effects of these changes.This system achieved high accuracy and real-time performance.The scene change detection process was performed using visual rhythm and the proposed recurrent deep architecture,which performed camera pose prediction and scene change impact evaluation.Overall,this study proposed a novel real-time localization system for indoor cameras that detects scene changes and shows how they affect localization performance.

Mobile robot localization algorithm based on multi-sensor information fusion

In order to effectively reduce the uncertainty error of mobile robot localization with a single sensor and improve the accuracy and robustness of robot localization and mapping,a mobile robot localization algorithm based on multi-sensor information fusion(MSIF)was proposed.In this paper,simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM)was realized on the basis of laser Rao-Blackwellized particle filter(RBPF)-SLAM algorithm and graph-based optimization theory was used to constrain and optimize the pose estimation results of Monte Carlo localization.The feature point extraction and quadrilateral closed loop matching algorithm based on oriented FAST and rotated BRIEF(ORB)were improved aiming at the problems of generous calculation and low tracking accuracy in visual information processing by means of the three-dimensional(3D)point feature in binocular visual reconstruction environment.Factor graph model was used for the information fusion under the maximum posterior probability criterion for laser RBPF-SLAM localization and binocular visual localization.The results of simulation and experiment indicate that localization accuracy of the above-mentioned method is higher than that of traditional RBPF-SLAM algorithm and general improved algorithms,and the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed method are verified.

Robot SLAM with Ad hoc wireless network adapted to search and rescue environments

An innovative multi-robot simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM)is proposed based on a mobile Ad hoc local wireless sensor network(Ad-WSN).Multiple followed-robots equipped with the wireless link RS232/485module act as mobile nodes,with various on-board sensors,Tp-link wireless local area network cards,and Tp-link wireless routers.The master robot with embedded industrial PC and a complete robot control system autonomously performs the SLAM task by exchanging information with multiple followed-robots by using this self-organizing mobile wireless network.The PC on the remote console can monitor multi-robot SLAM on-site and provide direct motion control of the robots.This mobile Ad-WSN complements an environment devoid of usual GPS signals for the robots performing SLAM task in search and rescue environments.In post-disaster areas,the network is usually absent or variable and the site scene is cluttered with obstacles.To adapt to such harsh situations,the proposed self-organizing mobile Ad-WSN enables robots to complete the SLAM process while improving the performances of object of interest identification and exploration area coverage.The information of localization and mapping can communicate freely among multiple robots and remote PC control center via this mobile Ad-WSN.Therefore,the autonomous master robot runs SLAM algorithms while exchanging information with multiple followed-robots and with the remote PC control center via this local WSN environment.Simulations and experiments validate the improved performances of the exploration area coverage,object marked,and loop closure,which are adapted to search and rescue post-disaster cluttered environments.

Dense Mapping From an Accurate Tracking SLAM

In recent years, reconstructing a sparse map from a simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) system on a conventional CPU has undergone remarkable progress. However,obtaining a dense map from the system often requires a highperformance GPU to accelerate computation. This paper proposes a dense mapping approach which can remove outliers and obtain a clean 3D model using a CPU in real-time. The dense mapping approach processes keyframes and establishes data association by using multi-threading technology. The outliers are removed by changing detections of associated vertices between keyframes. The implicit surface data of inliers is represented by a truncated signed distance function and fused with an adaptive weight. A global hash table and a local hash table are used to store and retrieve surface data for data-reuse. Experiment results show that the proposed approach can precisely remove the outliers in scene and obtain a dense 3D map with a better visual effect in real-time.

A novel algorithm for SLAM in dynamic environments using landscape theory of aggregation

To tackle the problem of simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) in dynamic environments, a novel algorithm using landscape theory of aggregation is presented. By exploiting the coherent explanation how actors form alignments in a game provided by the landscape theory of aggregation, the algorithm is able to explicitly deal with the ever-changing relationship between the static objects and the moving objects without any prior models of the moving objects. The effectiveness of the method has been validated by experiments in two representative dynamic environments: the campus road and the urban road.

Visual attention and clustering-based automatic selection of landmarks using single camera

An improved method with better selection capability using a single camera was presented in comparison with previous method. To improve performance, two methods were applied to landmark selection in an unfamiliar indoor environment. First, a modified visual attention method was proposed to automatically select a candidate region as a more useful landmark. In visual attention, candidate landmark regions were selected with different characteristics of ambient color and intensity in the image. Then, the more useful landmarks were selected by combining the candidate regions using clustering. As generally implemented, automatic landmark selection by vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) results in many useless landmarks, because the features of images are distinguished from the surrounding environment but detected repeatedly. These useless landmarks create a serious problem for the SLAM system because they complicate data association. To address this, a method was proposed in which the robot initially collected landmarks through automatic detection while traversing the entire area where the robot performed SLAM, and then, the robot selected only those landmarks that exhibited high rarity through clustering, which enhanced the system performance. Experimental results show that this method of automatic landmark selection results in selection of a high-rarity landmark. The average error of the performance of SLAM decreases 52% compared with conventional methods and the accuracy of data associations increases.

Robust SLAM localization method based on improved variational Bayesian filtering

Aimed at the problem that the state estimation in the measurement update of the simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM)method is incorrect or even not convergent because of the non-Gaussian measurement noise,outliers,or unknown and time-varying noise statistical characteristics,a robust SLAM method based on the improved variational Bayesian adaptive Kalman filtering(IVBAKF)is proposed.First,the measurement noise covariance is estimated using the variable Bayesian adaptive filtering algorithm.Then,the estimated covariance matrix is robustly processed through the weight function constructed in the form of a reweighted average.Finally,the system updates are iterated multiple times to further gradually correct the state estimation error.Furthermore,to observe features at different depths,a feature measurement model containing depth parameters is constructed.Experimental results show that when the measurement noise does not obey the Gaussian distribution and there are outliers in the measurement information,compared with the variational Bayesian adaptive SLAM method,the positioning accuracy of the proposed method is improved by 17.23%,20.46%,and 17.76%,which has better applicability and robustness to environmental disturbance.

Standard Dual Quaternion Optimization and Its Applications in Hand-Eye Calibration and SLAM

Several common dual quaternion functions,such as the power function,the magnitude function,the 2-norm function,and the kth largest eigenvalue of a dual quaternion Hermitian matrix,are standard dual quaternion functions,i.e.,the standard parts of their function values depend upon only the standard parts of their dual quaternion variables.Furthermore,the sum,product,minimum,maximum,and composite functions of two standard dual functions,the logarithm and the exponential of standard unit dual quaternion functions,are still standard dual quaternion functions.On the other hand,the dual quaternion optimization problem,where objective and constraint function values are dual numbers but variables are dual quaternions,naturally arises from applications.We show that to solve an equality constrained dual quaternion optimization(EQDQO)problem,we only need to solve two quaternion optimization problems.If the involved dual quaternion functions are all standard,the optimization problem is called a standard dual quaternion optimization problem,and some better results hold.Then,we show that the dual quaternion optimization problems arising from the hand-eye calibration problem and the simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM)problem are equality constrained standard dual quaternion optimization problems.