Quantitive evaluation of sonar models and mathematical update methods for Map Building with mobile robots

A wide range of sonar models and map update methods have been developed by researchers to create a map of an environment using a mobile robot. However these are generally developed in isolation from each other, and are rarely compared directly with other map building methods. When they are, either qualitative methods are applied, or the comparisons are based on different test data, making it problematic to correctly assess the merits of the various map building approaches. This paper presents a qualitative comparison of two sonar models and three mathematical update methods. The sonar models are based on models proposed by Moravec and Elfes, as well as Konolige. The mathematical map update formulae evaluated include methods based on Bayesian probability theory in addition to more simplistic methods. All evaluations are performed using identical data in identical environments, both in simulation and in real world experiments.