A Dense Mapping Algorithm Based on Spatiotemporal Consistency.

Dense mapping is an important part of mobile robot navigation and environmental understanding. Aiming to address the problem that Dense Surfel Mapping relies on the input of a common-view relationship, we propose a local map extraction strategy based on spatiotemporal consistency. The local map is extracted through the inter-frame pose observability and temporal continuity. To reduce the blurring of map fusion caused by the different viewing angles, a normal constraint is added to the map fusion and weight initialization. To achieve continuous and stable time efficiency, we dynamically adjust the parameters of superpixel extraction. The experimental results on the ICL-NUIM and KITTI datasets show that the partial reconstruction accuracy is improved by approximately 27-43%. In addition, the system achieves a greater than 15 Hz real-time performance using only CPU computation, which is improved by approximately 13%.

Autonomous Road Roundabout Detection and Navigation System for Smart Vehicles and Cities Using Laser Simulator-Fuzzy Logic Algorithms and Sensor Fusion.

A real-time roundabout detection and navigation system for smart vehicles and cities using laser simulator-fuzzy logic algorithms and sensor fusion in a road environment is presented in this paper. A wheeled mobile robot (WMR) is supposed to navigate autonomously on the road in real-time and reach a predefined goal while discovering and detecting the road roundabout. A complete modeling and path planning of the road's roundabout intersection was derived to enable the WMR to navigate autonomously in indoor and outdoor terrains. A new algorithm, called Laser Simulator, has been introduced to detect various entities in a road roundabout setting, which is later integrated with fuzzy logic algorithm for making the right decision about the existence of the roundabout. The sensor fusion process involving the use of a Wi-Fi camera, laser range finder, and odometry was implemented to generate the robot's path planning and localization within the road environment. The local maps were built using the extracted data from the camera and laser range finder to estimate the road parameters such as road width, side curbs, and roundabout center, all in two-dimensional space. The path generation algorithm was fully derived within the local maps and tested with a WMR platform in real-time.