Feature extraction from laser scan data based on curvature estimation for mobile robotics

This paper presents a geometrical feature detection system to use with conventional 2D laser rangefinders. This system consists of three main modules: data acquisition and pre-processing, rupture and breakpoint detection and feature extraction. The novelty of this system is a new efficient approach for natural feature extraction based on curvature estimation. This approach permits to extract and characterise line segments, corners and curve segments from the laser scan. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is very fast and permit to verify its effectiveness in indoor and outdoor environments