Patent Application Titled 'Method of Accurate Mapping with Mobile Robots' Under Review

摘要

Automatic map building of environments, particularly indoor environments, is a basic issue of mobile robotics. Digital two-dimensional and three-dimensional models of the environment are needed in all applications with autonomous mobile robots. If a robot were to have an a priori map, then localization would be a relatively easy task. Alternatively, if the robot were to have a precise, externally referenced position estimate, then mapping would be an easy task. However, problems in which the robot has no a priori map and no external position reference are particularly challenging. Such scenarios may arise for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), mining applications, or planetary surfaces.