Bastian Steder

About

Bastian Steder is a robotics researcher whose work has profoundly shaped the fields of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), 3D range data processing, and autonomous robot navigation. His early contributions to SLAM benchmarking — most notably his co-authored papers "On measuring the accuracy of SLAM algorithms" and "A comparison of SLAM algorithms based on a graph of relations" (together accumulating over 450 citations) — established rigorous, objective frameworks for evaluating navigation algorithms that remain foundational references in the field. Steder made significant advances in 3D place recognition, developing point-feature-based approaches and bag-of-words methods that enabled robots to reliably identify previously visited locations using LiDAR data. His research extended into demanding real-world environments, tackling autonomous navigation in densely populated pedestrian zones and crowded urban settings — challenges few researchers had previously confronted. He further demonstrated versatility through contributions to visual SLAM for aerial vehicles, semi-supervised traversability analysis using 3D LiDAR, and localization against OpenStreetMap data. With multiple papers exceeding 100 citations, Steder's body of work reflects a consistent commitment to bridging theoretical rigor with practical robotics deployment, making him an influential figure for researchers advancing autonomous mobile systems.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   On measuring the accuracy of SLAM algorithms

   333 citations · 2009
2. 2
   Robust place recognition for 3D range data based on point features

   141 citations · 2010
3. 3
   Large scale graph-based SLAM using aerial images as prior information

   130 citations · 2010
4. 4
   Autonomous Robot Navigation in Highly Populated Pedestrian Zones

   124 citations · 2014
5. 5
   A comparison of SLAM algorithms based on a graph of relations

   124 citations · 2009
6. 6
   Place recognition in 3D scans using a combination of bag of words and point feature based relative pose estimation

   113 citations · 2011
7. 7
   Traversability analysis for mobile robots in outdoor environments: A semi-supervised learning approach based on 3D-lidar data

   102 citations · 2015
8. 8
   Localization on OpenStreetMap data using a 3D laser scanner

   86 citations · 2015
9. 9
   Visual SLAM for Flying Vehicles

   81 citations · 2008
10. 10
    A navigation system for robots operating in crowded urban environments

    66 citations · 2013

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links