The Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) problem remains a prominent area of research in the mobile robotics community. The ISRR symposia have borne witness to marked progress of the field since its conception almost 20 years ago. This year, once again, the question “is the SLAM problem now solved?” was posed. Well the answer to that question probably lies in the definition of “solved”. We still do not have the persistent SLAM-enabled machines that we strive for, so in that sense, perhaps it isn’t solved, but we do have a firm understanding of the problem now. We do appreciate the limits of performance, we can handle uncertainties in a principled way and recognize the penalties for failing to do so. We also have several solutions to the scaling problem that so dogged the field for several years. To these probabilistic frameworks we are able to attach any of several representational schemes to represent both maps and vehicle trajectories. We run these “solutions” on vehicles equipped with various sensors, cameras, radars, sonars and of course the ubiquitous laser range finder.
展开▼
