Creating 3D Maps with a Backpack

Intriguing LIDAR example here.   Accuracy and use example?  Could have used this for mapping retail interiors during sales analysis.

Creating 3D Maps with a Backpack

University of Twente (Netherlands), K.W. Wesselink, November 23, 2021

At the University of Twente (UT) in the Netherlands, a researcher has developed a wearable mobile mapping system that can generate detailed three-dimensional (3D) maps of building interiors. The ITC-Backpack features three two-dimensional (2D) LIDAR scanners to record points on walls, ceilings, and floors, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to measure the backpack's accelerations and angular velocities over time. The researchers also developed a LIDAR-IMU-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm that depends on planar structures in indoor environments. While he encountered some challenges in creating a three-dimensional map from 2D data points, UT's Samer Karam said he "developed a specific loop closure technique that makes the backpack system recognize the previously visited places and corrects the drift."