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SLAM without odometry: gmapping or hector_slam?

asked 2012-06-07 02:20:58 -0500

jdelbe gravatar image

updated 2014-01-28 17:12:36 -0500

ngrennan gravatar image

Hello,

I am looking for a SLAM that does not require odometry to perform, only laser scans. I have noticed 2 solutions so far: gmapping (+laser_scan_matcher) and hector_slam.

If I am in the right direction, what are the differences between both?

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answered 2012-06-07 05:33:23 -0500

Both gmapping/laser_scan_matcher and hector_slam are viable options that have been demonstrated to work well in different scenarios (see also this Q/A). It might make sense to just try both for your setup and see what works best. Depending on LIDAR type, size/characteristics of the enviroment, available computing resources and other factors you might get better results with one approach or the other.

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Stefan: Does gmapping work without odom as well?

karthik gravatar image karthik  ( 2012-06-07 05:54:19 -0500 )edit

You can generate fake odometry by using the laser_scan_matcher, so using a combination of gmapping/laser_scan_matcher is method not requiring (real) odometry.

Stefan Kohlbrecher gravatar image Stefan Kohlbrecher  ( 2012-06-07 06:54:06 -0500 )edit

Thanks Stefan :)

karthik gravatar image karthik  ( 2012-06-07 08:37:54 -0500 )edit

Thanks a lot ! Indeed I guess I will have try both solutions.

jdelbe gravatar image jdelbe  ( 2012-06-07 09:55:56 -0500 )edit
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answered 2012-06-07 02:41:34 -0500

karthik gravatar image

Hi, First thing that comes into my mind is RGBDslam. Because it works for a hand held camera and doesn't require odometry. But gmapping uses odometry. After going through the wiki of the hector_slam it seems that it also provides SLAM without odometry. So it depends on the sensor you are using.

For Kinect sensor you may use either RGBDslam or use hector_slam after converting the kinect pointclouds into laser pointclouds.

For Laser sensor I can think of only the hector_slam.

Hope to hear some answers from people who have already used hector_slam.

Thanks, Karthik

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I have used hector_slam for mapping using only the netao laser scanner. It was pretty straight forward. I found gmapping required moving the base much slower to get a good map than with hector.

The tutorial I used for hector http://meetjanez.splet.arnes.si/2015/...

billy gravatar image billy  ( 2016-06-08 18:51:52 -0500 )edit

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Asked: 2012-06-07 02:20:58 -0500

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Last updated: Jun 07 '12