Abstract-This article depicts an algorithm which matches the output of a Lidar with an initial terrain model to estimate the absolute pose of a robot. Initial models do not perfectly fit the reality and the acquired data set can contain an unknown, and potentially large, proportion of outliers. We present an interval based algorithm that copes with such conditions, by matching the Lidar data with the terrain model in a robust manner. Experimental validations using different terrain model are reported to illustrate the performance of the method.

Contractor algebra is a numerical tool based on interval analysis which makes it possible to solve many nonlinear problems arising in robotics, such as identification, path planning or robust control. This paper presents the new notion of separators which is a pair of complementary contractors and presents the corresponding algebra. Using the separator algebra inside a paver will allow us to get an inner and an outer approximation of the solution set in a much simpler way than using any other interval approach. A path planning problem will then be considered in order to illustrate the principle of the approach.

International audienceThis paper deals with the guaranteed characterization of the part of the space that has been explored by a robot.The main difficulty of the problem is to take into account the uncertainty associated with the trajectory and the fact that thedimension of the visible space at time t may be smaller than that of the workspace. An example involving an experiment made with an actual underwater robot is presented in order to illustrate the efficiency of the approach

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