Online semantic mapping of logistic environments using RGB-D cameras

Automated guided vehicles require spatial representations of their working spaces in order to ensure safe navigation and carry out high-level tasks. Typically, these models are given by geometric maps. Even though these enable basic robotic navigation, they off-the-shelf lack the availability of task-dependent information required to provide services. This article presents a semantic mapping approach augmenting existing geometric representations. Our approach demonstrates the automatic annotation of map subspaces on the example of warehouse environments. The proposals of an object recognition system are integrated in a graph-based simultaneous localization and mapping framework and eventually propagated into a global map representation. Our system is experimentally evaluated in a typical warehouse consisting of common object classes expected for this type of environment. We discuss the novel achievements and motivate the contribution of semantic maps toward the operation of automated guided vehicles in the context of Industry 4.0.