Line segment based map building using laser rangefinder

Aiming at the problem of map building for a mobile robot equipped with a laser rangefinder, this paper propose to use line segment to build a map. First, preprocessing scan range data using mean filtering methods. Subsequently, by a given threshold value determine rectangular corner and convex-type wall. To represent the environmental characteristics precisely, a Golden-Section algorithm is employed to fit scan range data in the local map. To ensure the accuracy of the line fitting, the index distribution is proposed to approximate laser data points. In order to judge the corner, Hough transform combined with area-threshold method is applied. In addition, this paper introduces sector-based matching method to realize the integration of local map. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of our algorithm.