3D Mapping System

The mapping system is composed of a 2D Lidar scanner and two high resolution, high speed, color video cameras mounted on a 3 degree-of-freedom, gimbal-like, servo actuated mechanism. The mechanism is used to rotate the 2D lidar and cameras around the vehicle to capture a detailed 3D color point cloud of the environment around ROAMS. The 3D color point cloud is generated in real-time and can be visualized by the operator using the OCU during the scanning process.

Individual scans are stitched together to create maps of large scale environments beyond the scanning range of the Lidar scanner. The figures below show an example point cloud of an outdoor environment composed of 14 individual scans, generated by ROAMS, that are stitched together to form a large scale 3D map of the environment (color indicates height).

Operator Control Unit (OCU)

The OCU allows for remote monitoring and control of all the sensor data and functions of ROAMS from a safe distance and can be configured for use at a base station, on a mobile chase vehicle, or on a portable touchscreen computer. A network adaptive, real-time data transmission system was developed for ROAMS to enable the transmission of all the data streams from ROAMS with minimal latency.

More information about ROAMS can be founds in Appendix E of my PhD dissertation, and in the following papers and patents:

• Gebre, B. A., Men, H., & Pochiraju, K. (2009). Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System (ROAMS). Technologies for Practical Robot Applications, IEEE International Conference on, (pp. 173-178)

• Hao Men, Gebre, B, Pochiraju, K, (2011) Color Point Cloud Registration with 4D ICP Algorithm, Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on, (pp.1511-1516)

• Pochiraju, K.V., Men, H. and Gebre, B.A., Stevens Institute of Technology, 2016. Adaptive mechanism control and scanner positioning for improved three-dimensional laser scanning. U.S. Patent 9,322,646.