Scan Matching Without Odometry Information

We present an algorithm for merging two partial maps obtained with a laser range scanner into a single map. The most unique aspect of our algorithm is that it does not require any information on the position where the scans were collected. The algorithm operates by performing a geometric match of the two scans and returns the best fused map obtained by merging the two partial maps. The algorithm attempts to reduce the number of segments in the fused map, by replacing overlapping segments with a single segment. We present heuristics to speed up the computation, and experimental results obtained with a mobile robot in an indoor environment.