Hybrid, metric-topological representation for localization and mapping

This chapter describes an approach for indoor spatial representation, which is used to model the environment for the navigation of a fully autonomous robot. The metric and topological paradigms are integrated in a hybrid system for both localization and map building: A global topological map connects local metric maps avoiding the requirement of global metric consistency. This allows for a compact environment model, which permits both precision and robustness and allows the handling of loops in the environment during automatic mapping by means of the information of the multimodal topological localization.