Multi-Robot SLAM in Dynamic Environments with Parallel Maps

There is an extensive literature regarding multi-robot simultaneous localization and mapping (MRSLAM). In most part of the research, the environment is assumed to be static, while the dynamic parts of the environment degrade the estimation quality of SLAM algorithms and lead to inherently fragile systems. To enhance the performance and robustness of the SLAM in dynamic environments (SLAMIDE), a novel cooperative approach named parallel-map (p-map) SLAM is introduced in this paper. The objective of the proposed method is to deal with the dynamics of the environment, by detecting dynamic parts and preventing the inclusion of them in SLAM estimations. In this approach, each robot builds a limited map in its own vicinity, while the global map is built through a hybrid centralized MRSLAM. The restricted size of the local maps, bounds computational complexity and resources needed to handle a large scale dynamic environment. Using a probabilistic index, the proposed method differentiates between stationary and moving landmarks, based on their relative positions with other parts of the environment. Stationary landmarks are then used to refine a consistent map. The proposed method is evaluated with different levels of dynamism and for each level, the performance is measured in terms of accuracy, robustness, and hardware resources needed to be implemented. The method is also evaluated with a publicly available real-world data-set. Experimental validation along with simulations indicate that the proposed method is able to perform consistent SLAM in a dynamic environment, suggesting its feasibility for MRSLAM applications.

Improved Motion Planning of Humanoid Robots Using Bacterial Foraging Optimization

This paper emphasizes on Bacterial Foraging Optimization Algorithm for effective and efficient navigation of humanoid NAO, which uses the foraging quality of bacteria Escherichia coli for getting shortest path between two locations in minimum time. The Gaussian cost function assigned to both attractant and repellent profile of bacterium performs a major role in obtaining the best path between any two locations. Mathematical formulations have been performed to design the control architecture for humanoid navigation using the proposed methodology. The developed approach has been tested in a simulation platform, and the simulation results have been validated in an experimental platform. Here, motion planning for both single and multiple humanoid robots on a common platform has been performed by integrating a petri-net architecture for multiple humanoid navigation. Finally, the results obtained from both the platforms are compared in terms of suitable navigational parameters, and proper agreements have been observed with minimal amount of error limits.

Enhanced Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (ESLAM) for Mobile Robots

FastSLAM, such as FastSLAM 1.0 and FastSLAM 2.0, is a popular algorithm to solve the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem for mobile robots. In real environments, however, the execution speed by FastSLAM would be too slow to achieve the objective of real-time design with a satisfactory accuracy because of excessive comparisons of the measurement with all the existing landmarks in particles, particularly when the number of landmarks is drastically increased. In this paper, an enhanced SLAM (ESLAM) is proposed, which uses not only odometer information but also sensor measurements to estimate the robot’s pose in the prediction step. Landmark information that has the maximum likelihood is then used to update the robot’s pose before updating the landmarks’ location. Compared to existing FastSLAM algorithms, the proposed ESLAM algorithm has a better performance in terms of computation efficiency as well as localization and mapping accuracy as demonstrated in the illustrated examples.