MAD-BA: 3D LiDAR Bundle Adjustment -- from Uncertainty Modelling to Structure Optimization

The joint optimization of sensor poses and 3D structure is fundamental for state estimation in robotics and related fields. Current LiDAR systems often prioritize pose optimization, with structure refinement either omitted or treated separately using representations like signed distance functions or neural networks. This paper introduces a framework for simultaneous optimization of sensor poses and 3D map, represented as surfels. A generalized LiDAR uncertainty model is proposed to address degraded or less reliable measurements in varying scenarios. Experimental results on public datasets demonstrate improved performance over most comparable state-of-the-art methods. The system is provided as open-source software to support further research.

Learning from Experience for Rapid Generation of Local Car Maneuvers

Being able to rapidly respond to the changing scenes and traffic situations by generating feasible local paths is of pivotal importance for car autonomy. We propose to train a deep neural network (DNN) to plan feasible and nearly-optimal paths for kinematically constrained vehicles in small constant time. Our DNN model is trained using a novel weakly supervised approach and a gradient-based policy search. On real and simulated scenes and a large set of local planning problems, we demonstrate that our approach outperforms the existing planners with respect to the number of successfully completed tasks. While the path generation time is about 40 ms, the generated paths are smooth and comparable to those obtained from conventional path planners.