11 accepted papers
We present a framework for distributed Pose Graph Optimization (PGO) by formulating the problem as a second-order continuous-time dynamical system evolving on Lie groups. By modeling pose variables as massive particles subject to damping, the equilibrium points of the resulting Riemannian dynamics c…
Global data association is an essential prerequisite for robot operation in environments seen at different times or by different robots. Repetitive or symmetric data creates significant challenges for existing methods, which typically rely on maximum likelihood estimation or maximum consensus to pro…
We present ROBO (Riemannian Overlapping Block Optimization), a distributed and parallel approach to multi-robot pose graph optimization (PGO) based on the idea of overlapping domain decomposition. ROBO offers a middle ground between centralized and fully distributed solvers, where the amount of pose…
In this paper, we demonstrate that mobile manipulation policies utilizing a 3D latent map achieve stronger spatial and temporal reasoning than policies relying solely on images. We introduce Seeing the Bigger Picture (SBP), an end-to-end policy learning approach that operates directly on a 3D map of…
Neural implicit representations have had significant impact on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) by enabling robots to build continuous, differentiable, and high-fidelity 3D maps from sensor data. However, as the scale and complexity of the environment grow, neural SLAM approaches face re…
Global localization is a fundamental capability required for long-term and drift-free robot navigation. However, current methods fail to relocalize when faced with significantly different viewpoints. We present ROMAN (Robust Object Map Alignment Anywhere), a robust global localization method capable…
This paper revisits Kimera-Multi, a distributed multi-robot Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) system, towards the goal of deployment in the real world. In particular, this paper has three main contributions. First, we describe improvements to Kimera-Multi to make it resilient to large-sca…
We present the first distributed optimization al-gorithm with lazy communication for collaborative geometric estimation, the backbone of modern collaborative simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and structure-from-motion (SfM) applications. Our method allows agents to cooperatively reconstru…
We present the first fully distributed multi-robot system for dense metric-semantic Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). Our system, dubbed Kimera-Multi, is implemented by a team of robots equipped with visual-inertial sensors, and builds a 3D mesh model of the environment in real-time, whe…
We present Asynchronous Stochastic Parallel Pose Graph Optimization (ASAPP), the first asynchronous algorithm for distributed pose graph optimization (PGO) in multi-robot simultaneous localization and mapping. By enabling robots to optimize their local trajectory estimates without synchronization, A
Inter-robot loop closure detection is a core problem in collaborative SLAM (CSLAM). Establishing inter-robot loop closures is a resource-demanding process, during which robots must consume a substantial amount of mission-critical resources (e.g., battery and bandwidth) to exchange sensory data. Howe…