Autonomous Mapping of the Priscilla Catacombs

This chapter describes the image-based 3D reconstruction of the Priscilla catacombs in Rome, as carried out in the European ROVINA project. The 3D reconstruction system was mounted on a small mobile robot, which could autonomously roam the labyrinth of the catacombs’ corridors. The 3D reconstruction system was designed to cope with the specific challenges posed by the narrow passages found there. It consists of multiple cameras and light sources, mounted on spherical arcs. Also the structure-from-motion (SfM) software needed adaptation to optimally cope with the particular circumstances. Firstly, the information coming from the different cameras is handled jointly. Secondly, the feature matching needs to withstand the negative effects of the strongly changing illumination between different robot positions—moreover the environment is mostly dark and humid. Thirdly, for the same reasons, the usual texture mapping techniques would cause strong seams between the textures taken from different robot positions, and these were avoided through a more sophisticated analysis of surface reflectance characteristics. The chapter includes visual examples for parts of the 3D reconstruction.

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