Factoring the Mapping Problem: Mobile Robot Map-building in the Hybrid Spatial Semantic Hierarchy

  • Authors:

  • Patrick Beeson;Joseph Modayil;Benjamin Kuipers

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Computer Sciences University of Texasat Austin 1 University Station C0500 Taylor Hall 2124 Austin, TX, USA 78712-0233,;Department of Computer Science, University of Rochester,PO Box 270226 734 Computer Studies Bldg. Rochester, NY, USA, 14627-0226;Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,University of Michigan, 2260 Hayward Street, Ann Arbour, MI 48109-2121, USA,

  • Venue:
  • International Journal of Robotics Research
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

We propose a factored approach to mobile robot map-building that handles qualitatively different types of uncertainty by combining the strengths of topological and metrical approaches. Our framework is based on a computational model of the human cognitive map; thus it allows robust navigation and communication within several different spatial ontologies. This paper focuses exclusively on the issue of map-building using the framework. Our approach factors the mapping problem into natural sub-goals: building a metrical representation for local small-scale spaces; finding a topological map that represents the qualitative structure of large-scale space; and (when necessary) constructing a metrical representation for large-scale space using the skeleton provided by the topological map. We describe how to abstract a symbolic description of the robot's immediate surround from local metrical models, how to combine these local symbolic models in order to build global symbolic models, and how to create a globally consistent metrical map from a topological skeleton by connecting local frames of reference.