Building visual maps by combining noisy stereo measurements

This paper deals with the problem of coping with noise disturbing data in Stereo, 3-D modelling and navigation. We introduce the idea of a Realistic Uncertain Description of the Environment (RUDE) which is local, i.e attached to a specific reference frame, and incorporates both, information about the geometry and about the parameters measuring this geometry. We also relate this uncertainty to the pixel uncertainty and show how the RUDE corresponding to different frames can be used to relate these frames by a rigid displacement which we describe both by a rotation and translation and a measure of their uncertainty. Finally, we use the relations between frames to update the associated RUDE and decrease their uncertainty.