DiCar-SLAM: A Distributed Multi-robot SLAM System with Enhanced Scan Context and Lateral Robustness
摘要
Localization and mapping stand as fundamental capabilities for unmanned systems to accomplish intricate tasks. In the domain of multiple robots, challenges persist in Collaborative Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (C-SLAM). Particularly, when robots revisit locations previously traversed by others, issues arise in loop closure detection and establishing inter-robot connections due to lateral lane variations. To tackle this challenge, we introduce DiCar-SLAM, an optimized distributed multi-robot SLAM system using 3D lidar and inertial sensors. DiCar-SLAM leverages a novel 3D point cloud feature descriptor named Enhanced Scan Context, tailored for distributed C-SLAM. This descriptor ensures rotational invariance while fortifying lateral robustness, thereby facilitating loop closure detection across multiple robots navigating different lanes within the same scene. We extensively evaluate and compare DiCar-SLAM with other C-SLAM baselines above several collaborative SLAM datasets. Our quantitative assessments demonstrate the superior suitability of DiCar-SLAM for collaborative localization and mapping scenarios involving lateral lane changes.