A Novel ViDAR Device With Visual Inertial Encoder Odometry and Reinforcement Learning-Based Active SLAM Method

In the field of multisensor fusion for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), monocular cameras and IMUs are widely used to build simple and effective visual-inertial systems. However, limited research has explored the integration of motor-encoder devices to enhance SLAM performance. By incorporating such devices, it is possible to significantly improve active capability and field of view (FOV) with minimal additional cost and structural complexity. This article proposes a novel visual-inertial-encoder tightly coupled odometry (VIEO) based on a video detection and ranging (ViDAR) device. A ViDAR calibration method is introduced to ensure accurate initialization for VIEO. In addition, a platform motion decoupled active SLAM method based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed. Experimental data demonstrate that the proposed ViDAR and the VIEO algorithm significantly increase cross-frame co-visibility relationships compared to its corresponding visual-inertial odometry (VIO) algorithm, improving state estimation accuracy. Additionally, the DRL-based active SLAM algorithm, with the ability to decouple from platform motion, can increase the diversity weight of the feature points and further enhance the VIEO algorithm's performance. The proposed methodology sheds fresh insights into both the updated platform design and decoupled approach of active SLAM systems in complex environments.