Events Calendar

PhD Defense - Randolph Voorhies

PhD Candidate: Randolph Voorhies

Date: 4/22
Time: 2-4pm
Location: HNB 100

Committee:
Laurent Itti (Chair)
Gaurav Sukhatme
James Weiland


Title:
Efficient SLAM For Scanning LiDAR Sensors Using Combined Plane and Point Features

Abstract:
This work presents a novel SLAM algorithm for scanning (Velodyne style) LiDAR sensors. A Hough transform algorithm is first derived which exploits the unique geometry of these sensors to detect planar features, and it is then shown how these features can be matched over a sequence of scans to reconstruct the path of the sensor. A mathematical framework is then developed to track how well constrained these sequential alignment problems are, and to detect when they become under-constrained. A method is then presented which determines a minimal set of non-planar features to be extracted from scenes to achieve full constraint within this framework. Finally, all of these tools are combined into an online SLAM system which is able to close the loop on a variety of indoor and outdoor datasets without the use of odometry, GPS, or an IMU. Both the frame to frame alignment as well as the SLAM algorithms are compared to state of the art methods and superior performance is shown for both.

Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Lizsl De Leon