Robot Mapping slides by Cyrill Stachniss

Robot Mapping - WS 2013/14

Robot Mapping

What is this lecture about?

The problem of learning maps is an important problem in mobile robotics. Models of the environment are needed for a series of applications such as transportation, cleaning, rescue, and various other service robotic tasks. Learning maps requires solutions to two tasks, mapping and localization. Mapping is the problem of integrating the information gathered with the robot's sensors into a given representation. It can intuitively be described by the question ``What does the world look like?'' Central aspects in mapping are the representation of the environment and the interpretation of sensor data. In contrast to this, localization is the problem of estimating the pose of the robot relative to a map. In other words, the robot has to answer the question ``Where am I?'' These two tasks cannot be solved independently of each other. Solving both problems jointly is often referred to as the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem. There are several variants of the SLAM problem including passive and active approaches, topological and metric SLAM, feature-based vs. volumetric approaches, and may others.

The lecture will cover different topics and techniques in the context of environment modeling with mobile robots. We will cover techniques such as SLAM with the family of Kalman filters, information filters, particle filters. We will furthermore investigate graph-based approaches, least-squares error minimization, techniques for place recognition and appearance-based mapping, and data association. The exercises and homework assignments will also cover practical hands-on experience with mapping techniques, as basic implementations will be part of the homework assignments.

Organization

• Lecturer: Cyrill Stachniss
• Tutors: Rainer Kuemmerle and Fabrizio Nenci
• Lecture: Mon, 10-12 in building 101, SR 01-018
• Exercise: Tue, 10-12 in building 101, SR 01-018.
• Exam: Thu, 13.03.2014, oral exams in building 79, room 1006.
• There is a QnA forum for questions available.
• The WS 13/14 lecture recordings will be made available through YouTube.
• Recordings, slides, homework assignments, and additional material will be available via this website.
• Teaching is done in English.
• The lecture is part of the area Cognitive Technical Systems in the CS master program.

Misc

If you are a lecturer and would like to teach this course at your university, please send me a message. I am happy to share my slides as long as you acknowledge me.

Schedule

Date	Topic	Slides	Recordings	Homework Assignment	Relevant Literature
21.10.	Course Introduction	00.pdf  00-4up.pdf	WS13/14	---	---
21.10.	Introduction to Robot Mapping	01.pdf  01-4up.pdf	WS13/14	---	Springer Handbook on Robotics Chapter 37.1 + 37.2
22.10.	Homogenous Coordinates	02.pdf  02-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet1 Octave-Code Octave Help	Wiki page
28.10.	Bayes Filter and Related Models (Summary of Introduction to Mobile Robotics)	03.pdf 03-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet2	Introduction to Mobile Robotics lecture Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapters 2, 5, 6
28.10.	Kalman Filter and Extended Kalman Filter (EKF)	04.pdf 04-4up.pdf	WS13/14	---	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 3.1-3.3 Manipulating the Multivariate Gaussian Density  Kalman Filter Tutorial by Welch and Bishop
04.11.	EKF SLAM	05.pdf 05-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet3	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 10
11.11.	Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF)	06.pdf 06-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet4 Octave-Code	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 3.4
11.11.	Extended Information Filter (EIF)	07.pdf 07-4up.pdf	WS13/14	---	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 3.5
18.11.	Sparse EIF SLAM - Part 1	08.pdf 08-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet5 Octave-Code	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 12.1-12.7 SEIF Paper
25.11.	Sparse EIF SLAM - Part 2	see above	WS13/14	---	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 12.1-12.7 SEIF Paper SEIF: Insights on Sparsification
25.11.	Summary on the Kalman Filter and its Friends for SLAM	09.pdf 09-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet6 Octave-Code	---
02.12.	Grid Maps	10.pdf 10-4up.pdf	WS13/14	---	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 4.2, 9.1-9.2 A method for Registration of 3-D Shapes Real-Time Correlative Scan Matching
02.12.	Short Introduction to the Particle Filter and PF Localization	11.pdf 11-4up.pdf	WS14/14(WS12/13)	---	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 8.3
09.12.	FastSLAM	12.pdf 12-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet7 Octave-Code-1Octave-Code-2	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 13.1-13.3 + 13.8 FastSLAM: A Factored Solution to the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Problem  Simultaneous Localization and Mapping with Unknown Data Association Using FastSLAM
16.12.	Grid-Based SLAM with Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filters	13.pdf 13-4up.pdf	WS13/14	Sheet08 Octave-Code	Improved Techniques for Grid Mapping with Rao- Blackwellized Particle Filters Analyzing Gaussian Proposal Distributions for Mapping with Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filters Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 13.10
13.01.	Least-Squares	14.pdf 14-4up.pdf	(WS12/13)	Sheet09 Octave-Code	Methods for Non-Linear Least Squares Probelms Wiki:Gauss-Newton Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 11.4
20.01.	Least-Squares Approach to SLAM	15.pdf 15-4up.pdf	(WS12/13)	---	A Tutorial on Graph-Based SLAM Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 11Methods for Non-Linear Least Squares Probelms
27.01.	Least-Squares Approach to SLAM (Revisited) and Hierarchical Pose-Graphs for Online Mapping	15short+16.pdf 15short+16-4.pdf (16.pdf,16-4.pdf)	WS13/14	Sheet10 Octave-Code	A Tutorial on Graph-Based SLAM Blackboard notes  Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 11 Hierarchical Optimization on Manifolds for Online 2D and 3D Mapping
03.02.	Graph-Based SLAM with Landmarks	17.pdf 17-4up.pdf	WS13/14	---	Probabilistic Robotics Book, Chapter 11 Methods for Non-Linear Least Squares Probelms
03.02.	Max-Mixture and Robust Least Squares for SLAM	18.pdf 18-4up.pdf	WS13/14	---	Inference on Networks of Mixtures for Robust Robot Mapping Methods for Non-Linear Least Squares Probelms
10.02.	Front-Ends for Graph-Based SLAM	20.pdf 20-4up.pdf	YouTube	---	Recognizing Places using Spectrally Clustered Local Matches
10.2.	Short Summary	21.pdf 21-4up.pdf	Youtube	---	---

In case you need to revisit material about Gaussians or a reference for matrix operations:

• Basic probability rules, pdf
• Marginalization and Conditioning of Gaussians (taken from Eustice et al, IROS 05), png
• K. Murphy: Gaussian, pdf
• Petersen and Pedersen: The Matrix Cookbook, pdf

Relevant Literature for the Course

Most of the literature is available as PDF files for free, but not the "Probabilistic Robotics" book. You find it in the TF library.

• Thrun, Burgard, Fox: Probabilistic Robotics, MIT Press, 2005, website
• Springer Handbook on Robotics, Chapter on Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (Chapt. 37 in 1st edition)
• Schoen and Lindsten: Manipulating the Multivariate Gaussian Density, 2011, pdf
• Welch and Bishop: Kalman Filter Tutorial, 2011, pdf
• Julier and Uhlmann: A New Extension of the Kalman Filter to Nonlinear Systems, 1995, pdf
• Thrun, Liu, Koller, Ng, Ghahramani, Durrant-Whyte: Simultaneous Localization and Mapping With Sparse Extended Information Filters, 2004. pdf
• Eustice, Walter, Leonard: Sparse Extended Information Filters: Insights into Sparsification, IROS, 2005. pdf
• Montemerlo, Thrun, Kollar, Wegbreit: FastSLAM: A Factored Solution to the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping Problem, 2002, pdf
• Montemerlo, Thrun: Simultaneous Localization and Mapping with Unknown Data Association Using FastSLAM, 2003, pdf
• Grisetti, Stachniss, Burgard: Improved Techniques for Grid Mapping with Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filters, 2007,pdf
• Stachniss, Grisetti, Burgard, Roy: Analyzing Gaussian Proposal Distributions for Mapping with Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filters, 2007, pdf
• Madsen, Nielsen, Tingleff: Methods for Non-Linear Least Squares Probelms, 2004, pdf
• Grisetti, Kuemmerle, Stachniss, Burgard: A Tutorial on Graph-Based SLAM, 2010, pdf
• Grisetti, Kuemmerle, Stachniss, Frese, Hertzberg: Hierarchical Optimization on Manifolds for Online 2D and 3D Mapping, 2010, pdf
• Olson, Agarwal: Inference on Networks of Mixtures for Robust Robot Mapping, 2013, pdf
• Agarwal, Tipaldi, Spinello, Stachniss, Burgard: Robust Map Optimization Using Dynamic Covariance Scaling, 2013, pdf
• Olson: Recognizing Places using Spectrally Clustered Local Matches, 2009, pdf