ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Robot. AI
Sec. Field Robotics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frobt.2025.1426676
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Mobile Robot Navigation Through Semantic SLAM IntegrationView all 3 articles
Semantic and Fiducial Aided Graph Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SF-GraphSLAM) for Robotic In-Space Assembly and Servicing of Large Truss Structures
Provisionally accepted
- Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, United States
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This paper proposes a method that uses information about modules and desired assembly locations within a large truss structure to create a Semantic and Fiducial Aided Graph Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SF-GraphSLAM) algorithm that is better tailored for use during robotic in-space assembly and servicing operations. This is achieved by first reducing the number of modules using a mixed assembly method vs a strut by strut method. Then each module is correlated to a visual tag (in this paper, an AprilTag) to reduce the number of elements being observed further from the number of sub-struts in that module to a single AprilTag marker for most modules, two are required for deployable modules to ensure proper deployment. Subsequently we are able to use semantic information about the desired transformation matrix between any two adjacent module AprilTags within the desired assembly structure. For our experimentation we expanded a factor graph smoothing and mapping model and added the semantic information looking at the smaller number of landmarks, AprilTags, with a camera representing the robot for simplicity. The mathematical approach to arrive at this new method is included in this journal as well as simulations to test it against the state of the art (SOA) using no structural knowledge. Overall this research contributes to the SOA for both general SLAM work and more specifically the underdeveloped field of SLAM for in-space assembly and servicing of large truss structures. It is critical to assure that as a robot is assembling the modules, each module is within the desired tolerances to assure the final structure is within the design requirements. Being able to build up a virtual twin of the truss structure as it is being assembled is a key tent-pole in achieving large space structures.
Keywords: Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), semantic, fiducial, Vision, Metrology, Robotics, in-space servicing assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), in-space structures
Received: 01 May 2024; Accepted: 04 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chapin, Chapin and Komendera. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Samantha Chapin, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, United States
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