In this paper we present a novel approach to global localization using an RGB-D camera in maps of visual features. For large maps, the performance of pure image matching techniques decays in terms of robustness and computational cost. Particularly, repeated occurrences of similar features due to repeating structure in the world (e.g., doorways, chairs, etc.) or missing associations between observations pose critical challenges to visual localization. We address these challenges using a two-step approach. We first estimate a candidate pose using few correspondences between features of the current camera frame and the feature map. The initial set of correspondences is established by proximity in feature space. The initial pose estimate is used in the second step to guide spatial matching of features in 3D, i.e., searching for associations where the image features are expected to be found in the map. A RANSAC algorithm is used to compute a fine estimation of the pose from the correspondences. Our approach clearly outperforms localization based on feature matching exclusively in feature space, both in terms of estimation accuracy and robustness to failure and allows for global localization in real time (30Hz).
MCL overcomes the limitations of EKFs as mentioned earlier. It was successfully used in @cite_21 for vision-based localization of a tour-guide robot in a museum using a map of the ceiling and a camera pointing to it. In contrast to this approach, we do not rely on odometry measurements to predict the pose, and are not restricted to planar motion. Additionally, MCL would report incorrect locations after unexpected robot motions or sensor outages. Sensor Resetting Localization @cite_15 partially substitutes particles by new ones directly generated from the sensor measurements when the position estimate is uncertain. Mixture-MCL @cite_16 combines standard MCL with dual-MCL to drastically reduce computational cost and localization error. Dual-MCL also generates particles from the current sensor measurements and was shown to deal well with the kidnapped robot problem when properly combined with standard MCL. We do not need a reset process, since our estimation is independent from the prior state. Our approach could be used in combination with Monte Carlo Localization (MCL) for efficient particle initialization and weighting. However, the results of our experiments show that our estimate is accurate enough to be used as final result, without any filtering.
@cite_15 @cite_21 @cite_16
2131865378 2160584648
Mobile robot localization is the problem of determining a robot’s pose from sensor data. This article presents a family of probabilistic localization algorithms known as Monte Carlo Localization (MCL). MCL algorithms represent a robot’s belief by a set of weighted hypotheses (samples), which approximate the posterior under a common Bayesian formulation of the localization problem. Building on the basic MCL algorithm, this article develops a more robust algorithm called MixtureMCL, which integrates two complimentary ways of generating samples in the estimation. To apply this algorithm to mobile robots equipped with range finders, a kernel density tree is learned that permits fast sampling. Systematic empirical results illustrate the robustness and computational efficiency of the approach.  2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. This paper presents a new algorithm for mobile robot localization, called Monte Carlo Localization (MCL). MCL is a version of Markov localization, a family of probabilistic approaches that have recently been applied with great practical success. However, previous approaches were either computationally cumbersome (such as grid-based approaches that represent the state space by high-resolution 3D grids), or had to resort to extremely coarse-grained resolutions. Our approach is computationally efficient while retaining the ability to represent (almost) arbitrary distributions. MCL applies sampling-based methods for approximating probability distributions, in a way that places computation "where needed." The number of samples is adapted on-line, thereby invoking large sample sets only when necessary. Empirical results illustrate that MCL yields improved accuracy while requiring an order of magnitude less computation when compared to previous approaches. It is also much easier to implement. A cluster algorithm for graphs called the (MCL algorithm) is introduced. The algorithm provides basically an interface to an algebraic process defined on stochastic matrices, called the MCL process. The graphs may be both weighted (with nonnegative weight) and directed. Let @math be such a graph. The MCL algorithm simulates flow in @math by first identifying @math in a canonical way with a Markov graph @math . Flow is then alternatingly expanded and contracted, leading to a row of Markov Graphs @math . Flow expansion corresponds with taking the @math power of a stochastic matrix, where @math . Flow contraction corresponds with a parametrized operator @math , @math , which maps the set of (column) stochastic matrices onto itself. The image @math is obtained by raising each entry in @math to the @math power and rescaling each column to have sum @math again. The heuristic underlying this approach is the expectation that flow between dense regions which are sparsely connected will evaporate. The invariant limits of the process are easily derived and in practice the process converges very fast to such a limit, the structure of which has a generic interpretation as an overlapping clustering of the graph @math . Overlap is limited to cases where the input graph has a symmetric structure inducing it. The contraction and expansion parameters of the MCL process influence the granularity of the output. The algorithm is space and time efficient and lends itself to drastic scaling. This report describes the MCL algorithm and process, convergence towards equilibrium states, interpretation of the states as clusterings, and implementation and scalability. The algorithm is introduced by first considering several related proposals towards graph clustering, of both combinatorial and probabilistic nature. A discrete uncoupling process for finite spaces is introduced, called the Markov Cluster Process or the MCL process. The process is the engine for the graph clustering algorithm called the MCL algorithm. The MCL process takes a stochastic matrix as input, and then alternates expansion and inflation, each step defining a stochastic matrix in terms of the previous one. Expansion corresponds with taking the @math th power of a stochastic matrix, where @math . Inflation corresponds with a parametrized operator @math , @math , that maps the set of (column) stochastic matrices onto itself. The image @math is obtained by raising each entry in @math to the @math th power and rescaling each column to have sum 1 again. In practice the process converges very fast towards a limit that is invariant under both matrix multiplication and inflation, with quadratic convergence around the limit points. The heuristic behind the process is its expected behavior for (Markov) graphs possessing cluster structure. The process is typically applied to the matrix of random walks on a given graph @math , and the connected components of (the graph associated with) the process limit generically allow a clustering interpretation of @math . The limit is in general extremely sparse and iterands are sparse in a weighted sense, implying that the MCL algorithm is very fast and highly scalable. Several mathematical properties of the MCL process are established. Most notably, the process (and algorithm) iterands posses structural properties generalizing the mapping from process limits onto clusterings. The inflation operator @math maps the class of matrices that are diagonally similar to a symmetric matrix onto itself. The phrase diagonally positive semi-definite (dpsd) is used for matrices that are diagonally similar to a positive semi-definite matrix. For @math and for @math a stochastic dpsd matrix, the image @math is again dpsd. Determinantal inequalities satisfied by a dpsd matrix @math imply a natural ordering among the diagonal elements of @math , generalizing the mapping of process limits onto clusterings. The spectrum of @math is of the form @math , where @math is the number of endclasses of the ordering associated with @math , and @math is the dimension of @math . This attests to the uncoupling effect of the inflation operator. While global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) are the state of the art for localization, in general they are unable to operate inside buildings, and there is currently no well-established solution for indoor localization. In this paper we propose a 3D mobile robot pose (2D position and 1D orientation) estimation system for indoor applications. The system is based on the cooperative sensor fusion of radar, ultrasonic and odometry data using an extended Kalman filter (EKF). A prerequisite for the EKF is an occupancy grid map of the scenario as well as the pose of the reference radar node inside the map. Our system can handle even the kidnapped-robot case as the radar provides absolute localization. We conducted a series of measurements in an office building corridor. We determined the typical position root-mean square error (RMSE) to be less than 15 cm. We describe an approach to register and merge detailed facade models with a complementary airborne model. The airborne modeling process provides a half-meter resolution model with a bird's-eye view of the entire area, containing terrain profile and building tops. The ground-based modeling process results in a detailed model of the building facades. Using the DSM obtained from airborne laser scans, we localize the acquisition vehicle and register the ground-based facades to the airborne model by means of Monte Carlo localization (MCL). We merge the two models with different resolutions to obtain a 3D model. In this paper we present a probabilistic framework for the reduction in the uncertainty of a moving robot pose during exploration by using a second robot to assist. A Monte Carlo Simulation technique (specifically, a Particle Filter) is employed in order to model and reduce the accumulated odometric error. Furthermore, we study the requirements to obtain an accurate yet timely pose estimate. A team of two robots is employed to explore an indoor environment in this paper, although several aspects of the approach have been extended to larger groups. The concept behind our exploration strategy has been presented previously and is based on having one robot carry a sensor that acts as a "robot tracker" to estimate the position of the other robot. By suitable use of the tracker as an appropriate motion-control mechanism we can sweep areas of free space between the stationary and the moving robot and generate an accurate graph-based description of the environment. This graph is used to guide the exploration process. Complete exploration without any overlaps is guaranteed as a result of the guidance provided by the dual graph of the spatial decomposition (triangulation) of the environment. We present experimental results from indoor experiments in our laboratory and from more complex simulated experiments. This paper addresses 6-DOF (degree-of-freedom) tactile localization, i.e., the pose estimation of tridimensional objects using tactile measurements. This estimation problem is fundamental for the operation of autonomous robots that are often required to manipulate and grasp objects whose pose is a priori unknown. The nature of tactile measurements, the strict time requirements for real-time operation, and the multimodality of the involved probability distributions pose remarkable challenges and call for advanced nonlinear filtering techniques. Following a Bayesian approach, this paper proposes a novel and effective algorithm, named memory unscented particle filter (MUPF), which solves 6-DOF localization recursively in real time by only exploiting contact point measurements. The MUPF combines a modified particle filter that incorporates a sliding memory of past measurements to better handle multimodal distributions, along with the unscented Kalman filter that moves the particles toward regions of the search space that are more likely with the measurements. The performance of the proposed MUPF algorithm has been assessed both in simulation and on a real robotic system equipped with tactile sensors (i.e., the iCub humanoid robot). The experiments show that the algorithm provides accurate and reliable localization even with a low number of particles and, hence, is compatible with real-time requirements. Visual and inertial sensors, in combination, are well-suited for many robot navigation and mapping tasks. However, correct data fusion, and hence overall system performance, depends on accurate calibration of the 6-DOF transform between the sensors (one or more camera(s) and an inertial measurement unit). Obtaining this calibration information is typically difficult and time-consuming. In this paper, we describe an algorithm, based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF), for camera-IMU simultaneous localization, mapping and sensor relative pose self-calibration. We show that the sensor-to-sensor transform, the IMU gyroscope and accelerometer biases, the local gravity vector, and the metric scene structure can all be recovered from camera and IMU measurements alone. This is possible without any prior knowledge about the environment in which the robot is operating. We present results from experiments with a monocular camera and a low-cost solid-state IMU, which demonstrate accurate estimation of the calibration parameters and the local scene structure. Localization, that is the estimation of a robot's location from sensor data, is a fundamental problem in mobile robotics. This papers presents a version of Markov localization which provides accurate position estimates and which is tailored towards dynamic environments. The key idea of Markov localization is to maintain a probability density over the space of all locations of a robot in its environment. Our approach represents this space metrically, using a fine-grained grid to approximate densities. It is able to globally localize the robot from scratch and to recover from localization failures. It is robust to approximate models of the environment (such as occupancy grid maps) and noisy sensors (such as ultrasound sensors). Our approach also includes a filtering technique which allows a mobile robot to reliably estimate its position even in densely populated environments in which crowds of people block the robot's sensors for extended periods of time. The method described here has been implemented and tested in several real-world applications of mobile robots, including the deployments of two mobile robots as interactive museum tour-guides. This paper presents a Monte Carlo localization algorithm for an autonomous car based on an integration of multiple sensors data. The sensor system is composed of onboard motion sensors, a low-cost GPS receiver, a precise digital map, and multiple cameras. Data from the onboard motion sensors, such as yaw rate and wheel speeds, are used to predict the vehicle motion, and the GPS receiver is applied to establish the validation boundary of the ego–vehicle position. The digital map contains location information at the centimeter level about road surface markers (RSMs), such as lane markers, stop lines, and traffic sign markers. The multiple images from the front and rear mono-cameras and the around-view monitoring system are used to detect the RSM features. The localization algorithm updates the measurements by matching the RSM features from the cameras to the digital map based on a particle filter. Because the particle filter updates the measurements based on a probabilistic sensor model, the exact probabilistic modeling of sensor noise is a key factor to enhance the localization performance. To design the probabilistic noise model of the RSM features more explicitly, we analyze the results of the RSM feature detection for various real driving conditions. The proposed localization algorithm is verified and evaluated through experiments under various test scenarios and configurations. From the experimental results, we conclude that the presented localization algorithm based on the probabilistic noise model of RSM features provides sufficient accuracy and reliability for autonomous driving system applications. We investigate the problem of estimating the state of an object during manipulation. Contact sensors provide valuable information about the object state during actions which involve persistent contact, e.g. pushing. However, contact sensing is very discriminative by nature, and therefore the set of object states that contact a sensor constitutes a lower-dimensional manifold in the state space of the object. This causes stochastic state estimation methods, such as particle filters, to perform poorly when contact sensors are used. We propose a new algorithm, the manifold particle filter, which uses dual particles directly sampled from the contact manifold to avoid this problem. The algorithm adapts to the probability of contact by dynamically changing the number of dual particles sampled from the manifold. We compare our algorithm to the conventional particle filter through extensive experiments and we show that our algorithm is both faster and better at estimating the state. Unlike the conventional particle filter, our algorithm's performance improves with increasing sensor accuracy and the filter's update rate. We implement the algorithm on a real robot using commercially available tactile sensors to track the pose of a pushed object. Visual and inertial sensors, in combination, are able to provide accurate motion estimates and are well suited for use in many robot navigation tasks. However, correct data fusion, and hence overall performance, depends on careful calibration of the rigid body transform between the sensors. Obtaining this calibration information is typically difficult and time-consuming, and normally requires additional equipment. In this paper we describe an algorithm, based on the unscented Kalman filter, for self-calibration of the transform between a camera and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). Our formulation rests on a differential geometric analysis of the observability of the cameraâIMU system; this analysis shows that the sensor-to-sensor transform, the IMU gyroscope and accelerometer biases, the local gravity vector, and the metric scene structure can be recovered from camera and IMU measurements alone. While calibrating the transform we simultaneously localize the IMU and build a map of the surroundings, all without additional hardware or prior knowledge about the environment in which a robot is operating. We present results from simulation studies and from experiments with a monocular camera and a low-cost IMU, which demonstrate accurate estimation of both the calibration parameters and the local scene structure. The necessity of accurate localization in mobile robotics is obvious—if a robot does not know where it is, it cannot navigate accurately and reach goal locations. Robots learn about their environment via sensors. Small robots require small, efficient, and, if they are to be deployed in large numbers, inexpensive sensors. The sensors used by robots to perceive the world are inherently inaccurate, providing noisy, erroneous data, or even no data at all. Combined with estimation error due to imperfect modeling of the robot, there are many obstacles to successfully localizing in the world. Sensor fusion is used to overcome these difficulties—combining the available sensor data to derive a more accurate pose estimation for the robot. A feeling of “ready-fire-aim'' pervades the discipline—filters are chosen on little to no information, and new filters are simply tested against a few peers and claimed as superior to all others. This is folly—the most appropriate filter is seldom the newest. This article provides an overview and in-depth tutorial of all modern robot localization methods and thoroughly discusses their strengths and weaknesses to assist a robot researcher in the task of choosing the most appropriate filter for their task. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. In this paper, we present a new approach to the problem of simultaneously localizing a group of mobile robots capable of sensing one another. Each of the robots collects sensor data regarding its own motion and shares this information with the rest of the team during the update cycles. A single estimator, in the form of a Kalman filter, processes the available positioning information from all the members of the team and produces a pose estimate for every one of them. The equations for this centralized estimator can be written in a decentralized form, therefore allowing this single Kalman filter to be decomposed into a number of smaller communicating filters. Each of these filters processes the sensor data collected by its host robot. Exchange of information between the individual filters is necessary only when two robots detect each other and measure their relative pose. The resulting decentralized estimation schema, which we call collective localization, constitutes a unique means for fusing measurements collected from a variety of sensors with minimal communication and processing requirements. The distributed localization algorithm is applied to a group of three robots and the improvement in localization accuracy is presented. Finally, a comparison to the equivalent decentralized information filter is provided. We describe a real-time, low-cost system to localize a mobile robot in outdoor environments. Our system relies on stereo vision to robustly estimate frame-to-frame motion in real time (also known as visual odometry). The motion estimation problem is formulated efficiently in the disparity space and results in accurate and robust estimates of the motion even for a small-baseline configuration. Our system uses inertial measurements to fill in motion estimates when visual odometry fails. This incremental motion is then fused with a low-cost GPS sensor using a Kalman Filter to prevent long-term drifts. Experimental results are presented for outdoor localization in moderately sized environments ( 100 meters) Extended Kalman filter (EKF) has been a popular choice to solve simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problems for mobile robots or vehicles. However, the performance of the EKF depends on the correct a priori knowledge of process and sensor measurement noise covariance matrices (Q and R, respectively). Imprecise knowledge of these statistics can cause significant degradation in performance. The present paper proposes the development of a new neurofuzzy based adaptive Kalman filtering algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping of mobile robots or vehicles, which attempts to estimate the elements of the R matrix of the EKF algorithm, at each sampling instant when a ldquomeasurement updaterdquo step is carried out. The neuro-fuzzy based supervision for the EKF algorithm is carried out with the aim of reducing the mismatch between the theoretical and the actual covariance of the innovation sequences. The free parameters of the neuro-fuzzy system are learned offline, by employing particle swarm optimization in the training phase, which configures the training problem as a high-dimensional stochastic optimization problem. By employing a mobile robot to localize and simultaneously acquire the map of the environment, under several benchmark environment situations with varying landmarks and under several conditions of wrong knowledge of sensor statistics, the performance of the proposed scheme has been evaluated. It has been successfully demonstrated that in each case, the neuro-fuzzy assistance is able to improve highly unpredictable, degrading performance of the EKF and can provide robust and accurate solutions. Target tracking with bearing-only sensors is a challenging problem when the target moves dynamically in complex scenarios. Besides the partial observability of such sensors, they have limited field of views, occlusions can occur, etc. In those cases, cooperative approaches with multiple tracking robots are interesting, but the different sources of uncertain information need to be considered appropriately in order to achieve better estimates. Even though there exist probabilistic filters that can estimate the position of a target dealing with uncertainties, bearing-only measurements bring usually additional problems with initialization and data association. In this paper, we propose a multi-robot triangulation method with a dynamic baseline that can triangulate bearing-only measurements in a probabilistic manner to produce 3D observations. This method is combined with a decentralized stochastic filter and used to tackle those initialization and data association issues. The approach is validated with simulations and field experiments where a team of aerial and ground robots with cameras track a dynamic target. In this paper, we focus on the problem of motion tracking in unknown environments using visual and inertial sensors. We term this estimation task visual-inertial odometry (VIO), in analogy to the well-known visual-odometry problem. We present a detailed study of extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based VIO algorithms, by comparing both their theoretical properties and empirical performance. We show that an EKF formulation where the state vector comprises a sliding window of poses (the multi-state-constraint Kalman filter (MSCKF)) attains better accuracy, consistency, and computational efficiency than the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) formulation of the EKF, in which the state vector contains the current pose and the features seen by the camera. Moreover, we prove that both types of EKF approaches are inconsistent, due to the way in which Jacobians are computed. Specifically, we show that the observability properties of the EKF's linearized system models do not match those of the underlying system, which causes the filters to underestimate the uncertainty in the state estimates. Based on our analysis, we propose a novel, real-time EKF-based VIO algorithm, which achieves consistent estimation by (i) ensuring the correct observability properties of its linearized system model, and (ii) performing online estimation of the camera-to-inertial measurement unit (IMU) calibration parameters. This algorithm, which we term MSCKF 2.0, is shown to achieve accuracy and consistency higher than even an iterative, sliding-window fixed-lag smoother, in both Monte Carlo simulations and real-world testing. This paper proposes a pose-based algorithm to solve the full Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) problem for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), navigating in an unknown and possibly unstructured environment. A probabilistic scan matching technique using range scans gathered from a Mechanical Scanning Imaging Sonar (MSIS) is used together with the robot dead-reckoning displacements. The proposed method utilizes two Extended Kalman Filters (EKFs). The first, estimates the local path traveled by the robot while forming the scan as well as its uncertainty, providing position estimates for correcting the distortions that the vehicle motion produces in the acoustic images. The second is an augmented state EKF that estimates and keeps the registered scans poses. The raw data from the sensors are processed and fused in-line. No priory structural information or initial pose are considered. Also, a method of estimating the uncertainty of the scan matching estimation is provided. The algorithm has been tested on an AUV guided along a 600 m path within a marina environment, showing the viability of the proposed approach.