Occupancy grid mapping: An empirical evaluation

In this paper a quantitative analysis of robotic mapping utilising the fields dominant paradigm, the occupancy grid, is presented. The aim of this work is to determine which approach to the robotic mapping problem imbues a mobile robot with the greatest ability to create an accurate representation of its operating environment. We accomplish this by analysing the performance of several established mapping techniques using identical test data. Through evaluating the maps generated by these paradigms using an extensible benchmarking suite that our group has developed we outline which paradigm yields the greatest representational ability.