Download Computer Science Colloquium

Computer Science Colloquium
Mapping, Localization and Self-Driving Vehicles
Prof. John Leonard, MIT
4:30pm Tuesday, Nov 10
Room 105 Computer Science Building
Princeton University
This talk will discuss the critical role of mapping and localization in the
development of self-driving vehicles. After a discussion of some of the recent
amazing progress and open technical challenges in the development of self-driving
vehicles, we will discuss the past, present and future of Simultaneous Localization
and Mapping (SLAM) in robotics. We will review the history of SLAM research
and will discuss some of the major challenges in SLAM, including choosing a map
representation, developing algorithms for efficient state estimation, and solving for
data association and loop closure. We will also present recent results on objectbased mapping in dynamic environments and real-time dense mapping using RGBD cameras.
Joint work with Sudeep Pillai, Tom Whelan, Michael Kaess, John McDonald,
Hordur Johannsson, Maurice Fallon, David Rosen, Ross Finman, Paul Huang,
Liam Paull, Nick Wang, and Dehann Fourie.
John J. Leonard is Samuel C. Collins Professor of Mechanical and Ocean
Engineering and Associate Department Head for Research in the MIT Department
of Mechanical Engineering. He is also a member of the MIT Computer Science
and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). His research addresses the
problems of navigation and mapping for autonomous mobile robots. He holds the
degrees of B.S.E.E. in Electrical Engineering and Science from the University of
Pennsylvania (1987) and D.Phil. in Engineering Science from the University of
Oxford (1994). He was team leader for MIT's DARPA Urban Challenge team,
which was one of eleven teams to qualify for the Urban Challenge final event and
one of six teams to complete the race. He is the recipient of an NSF Career Award
(1998) and the King-Sun Fu Memorial Best Transactions on Robotics Paper Award
(2006). He is an IEEE Fellow (2014).