Global Localization Over 2D Floor Plans with Free-Space Density Based on Depth Information

Abstract

Many applications with mobile robots require self-localization in indoor maps. While such maps can be previously generated by SLAM strategies, there are various localization approaches that use 2D floor plans as reference input. In this paper, we present a localization strategy using floor plan as map, which is based on spatial density information computed from dense depth data of RGB-D cameras. We propose an interval-based model, called Interval Free-Space Density, that bounds the uncertainty of observations and minimizes the effects of movable objects in the environment. Our model was applied in a Monte Carlo Localization strategy and compared with traditional observation models. The results of experiments showed the robustness of the proposed method in single-camera and multi-camera experiments in home environments.