Definitions

A Map… …is a data structure that models certain aspects of the

(in Robotics) environment, relevant to the robot or some of its functions

 Abstract/Selective view of the environment

 Compact model by discarding irrelevant information
 Different functions/modules of a robot may rely on different environmental features
 A robot may carry/build/maintain several distinct maps

…is the process of fusing accumulated sensor readings and/or

Mapping… external, a priori known data into a map data structure

Approaches to Mapping:
 Transformation of existing data (floor plans, CAD files, etc.)
 Offline mapping: post-processing of sensor readings collected before operation
(usually under supervision of a human operator)
 Online mapping: building a map from sensor readings gathered during operation
 Hybrid approaches, e. g. starting with a coarse base map, online refinement/
update from sensor reading

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Which functions (of a robot) make use of maps?

 Localization
Map of… Reference Features/Landmarks
(Resemblance to nautic navigation using unique
features of cost lines)
 Motion Planning, Collision Avoidance
Map of… Obstacles/Free space
Traversal cost
Traversal utility
 Task planning
Map of… Subtasks and their interdependencies
Environment States linked by actions
 Mapping
Structural environment map for guiding the exploration process

Many different types of maps required

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Interactions between the basic skills of a robot

Mapping with known Pose

Today (passive)
SLAM Mapping
Mapping with
Simultaneous
unknown Pose Localization
Exploration
And Mapping Active Mapping

(passive)
Planning
Localization

[Makarenko et al., 2002]

Active Localization

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Selected Classification Criteria for Maps

𝑌
Landmarks
Metric Non-metric
Objects
All mapped data is associated with a location in a
𝑋 common metric coordinate system
Terrain Height
Non-topologic Topologic Locations/States
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Map describes environment states/features 1 1 8
and their transitions/connections

Probabilistic Deterministic
𝝁&𝜮 Map includes uncertainty information, e. g. using (Only 𝒙)
probabilistic descriptions

Exact Approximate
Mapped information is described without
simplifications / approximations

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Selected Map Types

 Feature Maps
 Point Clouds

 Bitmaps
 Occupancy Grids
 Cost Grids
 Digital Elevation Maps

 Road Maps
 Visibility Graphs
 Voronoi Diagrams

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Non-volumetric features maps

Feature Maps / Landmarks (2D/3D)

Feature/Landmark = location + attributes attributes
Map
locations
Recognized
!High computational effort! Features/
Typical processing chain Sensor Feature Feature Landmarks
(e.g. Camera) Extraction Matching
 Data reduction 

Metric
Mapped data
Deterministic
Extension with
Uncertainty  SLAM

 Localization

 Collision
Avoidance

 Path Planning

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Non-volumetric features maps

Point Clouds
Generated from LIDAR (3D), Stereo Camera (3D) or moving Rangefinder (2D)
 Localization via Scan Matching

 Postprocessing Polygonal Object

Point Cloud
Mesh Recognition

Metric
(Usually no
uncertainty)

 Localization

Collision
 Avoidance
(Depends on density)

 Path Planning
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Binary Maps of Space/Volume

Bitmaps…
…describe a boolean property of the mapped space/volume
 Most common property: Presence of Obstacles
1 obstacle at 𝑖
 Practical implementation as regular grid of cells 𝑐𝑖 𝑐𝑖 =
0 else

Metric
Approximate
Deterministic

𝑐𝑖
 Localization
(scan matching)

Collision
 Avoidance

 Path Planning

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Binary Maps of Space/Volume

Occupancy Grids… (also: Evidence Grids)

… store the probability that a cell is occupied by an obstacle
 Mapped property is boolean, BUT 𝑐𝑖 ∈ ℝ 𝑐𝑖 = 𝑃 𝑖 is obstacle
 usually generated from range finder data

gray=unexplored area Metric

𝑃 obstacle = 0.5 Approximate
Probabilistic

 Localization
white: 𝑃 obstacle ≈ 0  Collision
Avoidance
 Path Planning
𝑃 obstacle ≈ 1

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Binary Maps of Space/Volume

Voxel Maps
Voxel = Volume element (resemblance to Pixel = Picture Element)
 3D Extension of Bitmaps/Occupancy grids
 can be generated from LIDAR
 Reduce memory consumption by storing only occupied cells

Hashing Hash ∈ ℕ balanced Tree

Efficient storage: Cell coordinates 𝑖, 𝑗, 𝑘 ∈ ℕ3
function data structure

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Binary Maps of Space/Volume

Multi-Resolution Grids
Problem of uniform grids: storage complexity
2D Example 3D Example
- 10x10m environment - 10x10x10m environment
- 1cm² resolution - 1cm³ resolution
 106 cells (~MB)  109 cells (~GB)
Observation: Large portions of the environment are uniform  Redundancy
Conclusion: Reduce grid resolution in uniform areas

Usual implementation uses

binary subdivision/aggregation

2D: Quadtree 3D: Octree

(Note: Worst case complexity is increased) © http://kubrix.com

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Non-binary Maps of Space/Volume

Cost Maps / Cost Grids Occupancy Grids

 Extension of bitmaps
 Cells store cost of traversal 𝑐𝑖 = cost 𝑖 ∈ ℝ ≠ 𝑐𝑖 = 𝑃 𝑖 is obstacle
 Costs may be hand-crafted to influence
path planning behavior, e. g. to increased clearance

Metric
Approximate
Deterministic

 Localization


Collision
Avoidance

 Path Planning
occupied …hard to traverse… …easy to traverse… free
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Non-binary Maps of Space/Volume

Digital Elevation Maps (DEM)

 Mapped property: terrain height 𝑐𝑖 = height 𝑖 ∈ ℝ
 Grid map
 Memory-efficient 3D representation (2.5D Map)

Metric
Approximate
Deterministic

Localization
 (scan matching)

Collision
 Avoidance

Sea level max. elevation

 Path Planning

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Maps that capture connectivity

Road maps (for long range path planning)

 Stored as graph

Topologic
Mapped data
Exact
Deterministic

Localization


Collision
 Avoidance

 Path Planning
© Google
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W6/7
Maps that capture connectivity

Visibility Graphs
 Polygonal (2D) / polyhedral (3D) obstacle description
 Nodes = Obstacle Vertices
 Edges = All non-obstructed straight line connections between vertices
Disadvantage: Robot is very close to obstacles

Topologic
Edges Obstacle Exact
Deterministic
Obstacle

 Localization

Collision
Obstacle  Avoidance
Obstacle

 Path Planning

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Maps that capture connectivity

Voronoi Diagram
 Graph structure
 Free space is divided into regions
 Region borders maximize distance to obstacles

Voronoi example for solid obstacles

Voronoi Diagram Topologic

from landmarks
Exact
Deterministic

 Localization

Collision
 Avoidance

 Path Planning

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 Summary of Map Types

Mapped Information

non-volumetric Space/Volume
Connectivity Graph
features Property
Voronoi Diag.

Non-
Recognizable Binary Non-Binary
discriminable
Few Quantity Many DEM
Visibility Graph
High Entropy per feature low Non-
Probabilistic
Postprocessing Probabilistic
complex none
of Sensor readings
Occupancy Grid Bitmap Cost Grid
Landmarks Point Cloud Roadmap

Thresholding Thresholding

Useful for… Collision Avoidance

Localization Path Planning
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 Mapping with known Pose

Occupancy Grid Mapping

Incremental map building algorithm that maintains &

updates a probabilistic description of a Bitmap
Inputs:
 Robot poses 𝒙′0 … 𝒙′𝑘 (exact)
 Sensor readings 𝒚′0 … 𝒚′𝑘 Same time base
e. g. Laser Rangefinder data
Output:
 Probabilistic description of a binary obstacle grid map 𝒎 = 𝑚𝑖
1 cell 𝑖 occupied
𝑚𝑖 = 1 ≤ 𝑖 ≤ 𝑊 ⋅ 𝐻 (𝑊=map width, 𝐻=map height)
0 else
i. e. an approximation to the posterior

𝑃 𝒎|𝒙0 , 𝒙1 , … 𝒙𝑘−1 , 𝒙𝑘 , 𝒚0 , 𝒚1 … , 𝒚𝑘−1 , 𝒚𝑘

 A priori map knowledge can be incorporated (e. g. from a floor plan)
 If no initial knowledge is available, initialize with uniform prior

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 Mapping with known Pose

Occupancy Grid Mapping Notation

Random variables Corresponding Events

𝑿𝑘 ∈ 𝒳 ⊆ ℝ𝑁𝑥 (continuous) 𝒙𝑘 ⇔ 𝑿𝑘 = 𝒙′𝑘

Robot pose at timestep 𝑘
𝒀𝑘 ∈ 𝒴 ⊆ ℝ𝑁𝑦 (continuous)
Measurement received at 𝑘
𝑀𝑖 ∈ free, occupied (binary)
State of cell 𝑖
𝑴 ∈ free, occupied 𝑊⋅𝐻 (discrete)
Instance of a (binary) map with 𝑊 ⋅ 𝐻 cells
Robot pose is 𝒙′𝑘 at timestep 𝑘
𝒚𝑘 ⇔ 𝒀𝑘 = 𝒚′𝑘
Measurement 𝒚′𝑘 taken at timestep 𝑘
𝑚𝑖 ⇔ 𝑀𝑖 = occupied
cell 𝑖 is occupied
𝒎 ⇔ 𝑴 is a specific binary map
(one out of 2𝑊⋅𝐻 possible binary maps)

How to read 𝑃 𝑚𝑖 |𝒙0 , 𝒙1 , … 𝒙𝑘−1 , 𝒙𝑘 , 𝒚0 , 𝒚1 … , 𝒚𝑘−1 , 𝒚𝑘

 probability that cell 𝑖 is occupied if robot
was at 𝒙′0 and received measurement 𝒚′0 at timestep 0 and
was at 𝒙′1 and received measurement 𝒚′1 at timestep 1 and
…
was at 𝒙′𝑘−1 and received measurement 𝒚′𝑘−1 at timestep 𝑘 − 1
was at 𝒙′𝑘 and received measurement 𝒚′𝑘 at timestep 𝑘
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 Mapping with known Pose

Cell Independence Assumption

How to represent distribution of 𝑃 𝒎|𝒙0 , 𝒙1 , … 𝒙𝑘−1 , 𝒙𝑘 , 𝒚0 , 𝒚1 … , 𝒚𝑘−1 , 𝒚𝑘 ?

 Bitmap is a discrete random variable:

𝑃 +𝑃 +𝑃 +𝑃 +𝑃 +𝑃 +⋯

…+ 𝑃 +𝑃 +𝑃 +𝑃 +𝑃 +⋯

…+𝑃+𝑃+𝑃+𝑃+𝑃 =1

Number of individual probabilities: 2𝑊⋅𝐻 with 𝑊 ⋅ 𝐻~105

 Approximation by assuming independence of cells
𝑊⋅𝐻

𝑃 𝒎|𝒙0 , … , 𝒙𝑘 , 𝒚0 , … , 𝒚𝑘 ≈ 𝑃(𝑚𝒊 |𝒙0 , … , 𝒙𝑘 , 𝒚0 , … , 𝒚𝑘 )

𝑖=1
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