Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM Systems
Loop-closure detection is an essential means to reduce accumulated errors of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems. However, even false positive loop closures could seriously interfere and even corrupt the back-end optimization process. For a collaborative SLAM system that generally u...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/21/2638 |
| _version_ | 1797512656441049088 |
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| author | Xiaoguo Zhang Zihan Zhang Qing Wang Yuan Yang |
| author_facet | Xiaoguo Zhang Zihan Zhang Qing Wang Yuan Yang |
| author_sort | Xiaoguo Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Loop-closure detection is an essential means to reduce accumulated errors of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems. However, even false positive loop closures could seriously interfere and even corrupt the back-end optimization process. For a collaborative SLAM system that generally uses both intra-robot and inter-robot loop closures to optimize the pose graph, it is a tough job to reject those false positive loop closures without a reliable a priori knowledge of the relative pose transformation between robots. Aiming at this solving problem, this paper proposes a two-stage false positive loop-closure rejection method based on three types of consistency checks. Firstly, a multi-robot pose-graph optimization model is given which transforms the multi-robot pose optimization problem into a maximum likelihood estimation model. Then, the principle of the false positive loop-closure rejection method based on <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi mathvariant="italic">χ</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> test is proposed, in which clustering is used to reject those intra-robot false loop-closures in the first step, and a largest mutually consistent loop-based <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi mathvariant="italic">χ</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> test is constructed to reject inter-robot false loop closures in the second step. Finally, an open dataset and synthetic data are used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that our method improves the accuracy and robustness of the back-end pose-graph optimization with a strong ability to reject false positive loop closures, and it is not sensitive to the initial pose at the same time. In the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) dataset, the absolute position error is reduced by 55.37% compared to the dynamic scaling covariance method, and the absolute rotation error is reduced by 77.27%; in the city10,000 synthetic dataset, the absolute position error is reduced by 89.37% compared to the pairwise consistency maximization (PCM) and the absolute rotation error is reduced by 97.9%. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:04:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9cbfe8c88b314369bf7a29622fbf7fad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:04:49Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-9cbfe8c88b314369bf7a29622fbf7fad2023-11-22T20:38:39ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922021-10-011021263810.3390/electronics10212638Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM SystemsXiaoguo Zhang0Zihan Zhang1Qing Wang2Yuan Yang3School of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, ChinaSchool of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, ChinaSchool of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, ChinaSchool of Instrument Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, ChinaLoop-closure detection is an essential means to reduce accumulated errors of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems. However, even false positive loop closures could seriously interfere and even corrupt the back-end optimization process. For a collaborative SLAM system that generally uses both intra-robot and inter-robot loop closures to optimize the pose graph, it is a tough job to reject those false positive loop closures without a reliable a priori knowledge of the relative pose transformation between robots. Aiming at this solving problem, this paper proposes a two-stage false positive loop-closure rejection method based on three types of consistency checks. Firstly, a multi-robot pose-graph optimization model is given which transforms the multi-robot pose optimization problem into a maximum likelihood estimation model. Then, the principle of the false positive loop-closure rejection method based on <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi mathvariant="italic">χ</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> test is proposed, in which clustering is used to reject those intra-robot false loop-closures in the first step, and a largest mutually consistent loop-based <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msup><mi mathvariant="italic">χ</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> test is constructed to reject inter-robot false loop closures in the second step. Finally, an open dataset and synthetic data are used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that our method improves the accuracy and robustness of the back-end pose-graph optimization with a strong ability to reject false positive loop closures, and it is not sensitive to the initial pose at the same time. In the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) dataset, the absolute position error is reduced by 55.37% compared to the dynamic scaling covariance method, and the absolute rotation error is reduced by 77.27%; in the city10,000 synthetic dataset, the absolute position error is reduced by 89.37% compared to the pairwise consistency maximization (PCM) and the absolute rotation error is reduced by 97.9%.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/21/2638collaborative SLAMcooperative robotsperceptual aliasingfalse positive loop closurepose graph fusionconsistency check |
| spellingShingle | Xiaoguo Zhang Zihan Zhang Qing Wang Yuan Yang Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM Systems Electronics collaborative SLAM cooperative robots perceptual aliasing false positive loop closure pose graph fusion consistency check |
| title | Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM Systems |
| title_full | Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM Systems |
| title_fullStr | Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM Systems |
| title_short | Using a Two-Stage Method to Reject False Loop Closures and Improve the Accuracy of Collaborative SLAM Systems |
| title_sort | using a two stage method to reject false loop closures and improve the accuracy of collaborative slam systems |
| topic | collaborative SLAM cooperative robots perceptual aliasing false positive loop closure pose graph fusion consistency check |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/21/2638 |
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