Robot pose estimation and navigation based on the understanding of laser landmarks in unknown environments

A pose estimation approach for the navigation of mobile robot in unknown environments is proposed. Compared with the existing mainstream SLAM, the proposed approach has a better generality without the help of odometers or motion models and it is completely based on external environment perceived by a laser sensor. In each of the laser frames, landmark points are first determined and they are then coded into a series of description matrixes. On this basis, by considering the landmarks matching in two neighboring laser frames, the pose change of the robot may be calculated, and the understanding of laser-based landmarks by geometric coding is achieved. The proposed approach is proved to be effective by the experiments of a tracked robot.