A Rover Team Based 3D Map Building Using Low Cost 2D Laser Scanners

This paper presents a solution to develop 3D map of indoor places using a team of rovers equipped with low cost 2D laser scanners. An orthogonal combination of two RPLidar 2D laser scanners has been used on every rover to build 3D point cloud map of the explored regions. Each rover of the team has been distantly placed inside the surveying environment in order to independently scan and built the unique 3D point cloud map of the region. The interfacing of scanners and the processing of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technique for each moving rover have been achieved using Robot Operating System (ROS). The individually build 3D maps have been merged in offline mode through sensor fusion application using Kalman Filter (KF) technique. Different indoor vicinities have been tested and complete 3D point cloud maps have been established which have been found accurate when compared to ground truths. The developed point cloud map has been further utilized to establish Building Information Model (BIM) and found valid for the surveyed region. In comparison to existing surveying and scanning solutions of the regional market, the presented method has been found precise, quick and convenient to provide structural details of surveyed entities at highly affordable rates.