6DoF Registration of 2D Laser Scans

We address the problem of registering a set of 2D laser scans in 3D space with regard to six degrees of freedom. Registering single 2D scans is only possible when making strong assumptions on the structure of the scene or on the acquisition process, since only a slice of the 3D environment is captured and the information content is very limited. With a combination of two differently oriented laser scanners, however, the registration problem becomes feasible. We present a method that is based on the idea of preserving the free space represented in each of these combined scans. On realistically simulated laser range data we show that, given a sufficient sampling density, the proposed algorithm is capable to recover from large translational and moderate rotational errors in the initial configuration.