Polygonal approximation of uncertain height fields for outdoor navigation

Exploring unstructured and unknown environments is one of the most important tasks of mobile robotics. Usually, in outdoor navigation, exploring unstructured environments is based on or is functional to map-making procedures. This paper deals with the problem of representing and updating maps from height field measurements. A technique for dynamic updating maps, in the presence of bounded uncertainties on the height field is presented. The technique is based on the set membership estimation theory, and allows for adaptive refinement of the environment description