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This paper addresses the problem of feature map merging, which is one of the essential techniques for multi-robot systems. If inter-robot measurements are not available for feature map merging, the only way to obtain the map transformation matrix is feature map matching. However, the conventional feature map matching technique requires too much computation time because it has to be iteratively performed to compute the degree of the mismatch between multiple feature maps. This paper proposes a non-iterative feature map merging technique using virtual supporting lines (VSLs) which is also accurate and robust. The proposed technique extracts the spectral information of multiple feature maps using VSLs and obtains the map transformation matrix using the circular cross-correlation between the extracted spectral information of the multiple feature maps. The proposed technique was tested on feature maps produced by experiments with vision sensors, which was performed non-iteratively. In addition, it consistently showed a high acceptance index, which indicates the degree of accuracy for feature map merging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of grid map merging for multi-robot systems, which can be resolved by acquiring the map transformation matrix (MTM) among robot maps. Without the initial correspondence or any rendezvous among robots, the only way to acquire the MTM is to find and match the common regions of individual robot maps. This paper proposes a novel map merging technique which is capable of merging individual robot maps by matching the spectral information of robot maps. The proposed technique extracts the spectra of robot maps and enhances the extracted spectra using visual landmarks. Then, the MTM is accurately acquired by finding the maximum cross-correlation among the enhanced spectra. Experimental results in outdoor environments show that the proposed technique was performed successfully. Also, the comparison result shows that the map merging errors were significantly reduced by the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]