Real-Time Volumetric-Semantic Exploration and Mapping: An Uncertainty-Aware Approach

Rui Pimentel De Figueiredo, Jonas Le Fevre Sejersen, Jakob Grimm Hansen, Martim Brandao, Erdal Kayacan

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paperpeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this work we propose a holistic framework for autonomous aerial inspection tasks, using semantically-aware, yet, computationally efficient planning and mapping algorithms. The system leverages state-of-the-art receding horizon exploration techniques for next-best-view (NBV) planning with geometric and semantic segmentation information provided by state-of-the-art deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs), with the goal of enriching environment representations. The contributions of this article are threefold, first we propose an efficient sensor observation model, and a reward function that encodes the expected information gains from the observations taken from specific view points. Second, we extend the reward function to incorporate not only geometric but also semantic probabilistic information, provided by a DCNN for semantic segmentation that operates in real-time. The incorporation of semantic information in the environment representation allows biasing exploration towards specific objects, while ignoring task-irrelevant ones during planning. Finally, we employ our approaches in an autonomous drone shipyard inspection task. A set of simulations in realistic scenarios demonstrate the efficacy and efficiency of the proposed framework when compared with the state-of-the-art.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationIEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2021
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages9064-9070
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781665417143
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Event2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2021 - Prague, Czech Republic
Duration: 27 Sept 20211 Oct 2021

Publication series

NameIEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
ISSN (Print)2153-0858
ISSN (Electronic)2153-0866

Conference

Conference2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2021
Country/TerritoryCzech Republic
CityPrague
Period27/09/20211/10/2021

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