CodeMapping: real-time dense mapping for sparse SLAM using compact scene representations
File(s)2107.08994.pdf (9.41 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Matsuki, Hidenobu
Scona, Raluca
Czarnowski, Jan
Davison, Andrew J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We propose a novel dense mapping framework for sparse visual SLAM systems which leverages a compact scene representation. State-of-the-art sparse visual SLAM systems provide accurate and reliable estimates of the camera trajectory and locations of landmarks. While these sparse maps are useful for localization, they cannot be used for other tasks such as obstacle avoidance or scene understanding. In this letter we propose a dense mapping framework to complement sparse visual SLAM systems which takes as input the camera poses, keyframes and sparse points produced by the SLAM system and predicts a dense depth image for every keyframe. We build on CodeSLAM [1] and use a variational autoencoder (VAE) which is conditioned on intensity, sparse depth and reprojection error images from sparse SLAM to predict an uncertainty-aware dense depth map. The use of a VAE then enables us to refine the dense depth images through multi-view optimization which improves the consistency of overlapping frames. Our mapper runs in a separate thread in parallel to the SLAM system in a loosely coupled manner. This flexible design allows for integration with arbitrary metric sparse SLAM systems without delaying the main SLAM process. Our dense mapper can be used not only for local mapping but also globally consistent dense 3D reconstruction through TSDF fusion. We demonstrate our system running with ORB-SLAM3 and show accurate dense depth estimation which could enable applications such as robotics and augmented reality.
Date Issued
2021-10-01
Date Acceptance
2021-06-28
Citation
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2021, 6 (4), pp.7105-7112
ISSN
2377-3766
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Start Page
7105
End Page
7112
Journal / Book Title
IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Volume
6
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2021 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Sponsor
Dyson Technology Limited
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000678343900054&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
PO 4500501004
EP/S036636/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Robotics
SLAM
mapping
vision-based navigation
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-07-14