Using histogram correlation to create consistent laser scan maps

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Abstract
The paper presents an approach to generate consistent maps in real-time using a laser range sensor. Its appli- cation scenario is the Bremen Autonomous Wheelchair "Rolland" (cf. Figure 1 and (4)(10)) that is developed as an autonomous transport vehicle for hospitals. The paper consists of two parts: in the first one, a laser scan matching method is presented that improves an algo- rithm originally proposed by Weiß et al. (12) in several aspects. In the second part, a mapping approach is in- troduced that is based on the scan matching method. Using a laser scanner mounted on the wheelchair, it generates consistent maps, i.e. maps that do not have discontinuities resulting from the accumulation of er- rors in the mapping process. As such accumulations cannot be avoided, the resulting errors are corrected whenever the wheelchair returns to areas already mapped. An important property of the presented ap- proach is its real-time capability. The mapping is per- formed on the fly and thus, the resulting maps can im- mediately be employed for self-localization.

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