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Google Releases Open Source 'Cartographer' (betanews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the advancement-of-robotics dept.

BrianFagioli quotes a report from BetaNews: Machine learning and vision are essential technologies for the advancement of robotics. When sensors come together, they can enable a computer or robot to collect data and images in real-time. A good example of this technology in real-world use is the latest Roomba vacuums. As the robot cleans your dirty floor, it is using sensors combined with a camera to map your home. Today, Google releases Cartographer -- an open source project that developers can use for many things, such as robots and self-driving cars. "We are happy to announce the open source release of Cartographer, a real-time simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) library in 2D and 3D with ROS support. SLAM is an essential component of autonomous platforms such as self driving cars, automated forklifts in warehouses, robotic vacuum cleaners, and UAVs," says Google in a blog post. "Our focus is on advancing and democratizing SLAM as a technology. Currently, Cartographer is heavily focused on LIDAR SLAM. Through continued development and community contributions, we hope to add both support for more sensors and platforms as well as new features, such as lifelong mapping and localizing in a pre-existing map."

26 comments

  1. Does it also support by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    self driving first posts to slashdot?

  2. Mapping my house by stevez67 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And phoning home, getting hacked because of shoddy security, 3rd parties using my data to schedule break-ins, and Google pimping my data without compensation. No thanks. I need IoT in my life like I need more bankers and lawyers.

    1. Re:Mapping my house by SadButResolved · · Score: 0, Troll

      Agreed, do no evil, pretty much proven a lie with the Creation of Groundworks from Google. A Zionist Corporation having your info is bad if your a white male.

    2. Re:Mapping my house by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A Zionist Corporation having your info is bad if your a white male.

      Now, now. We should show respect to all the white races, even Jews and Irish.

    3. Re:Mapping my house by JoeMerchant · · Score: 1

      Thanks to the world I grew up in, I have a paranoid twinge every time I tell my cloud based smart thermostat that I'm going away on vacation for more than a few hours... Once in awhile, it's good to remember that in this world, that same cloud keeps high definition video records of everyone/everything that approaches my house, and especially enters it - and facial recognition software/databases means that a repeat offender won't be repeating for long.

      Sure, there are people with access to my data who could use it for petty things like breaking and entering, but you have to realize that people who control this data can profit from it in much more lucrative ways than getting little kickbacks from organized criminals that might steal and sell your stuff. You're still getting the shaft, it's just not as in your face as a B&E anymore.

    4. Re: Mapping my house by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hence why I will always prefer my homegrown solutions over mass marketed products.

    5. Re:Mapping my house by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      "A Zionist Corporation having your info is bad if your a white male."

      Thanks for at least not knowing the difference between "your" and "you're", like most racists, it made my day.

    6. Re: Mapping my house by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Racists make your day ?

    7. Re: Mapping my house by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Absolutely - their bizarre behavior is perfect for a belly laugh.

  3. Nice by 110010001000 · · Score: 0, Troll

    This is what open source is all about: company with billions of dollars in cash asks the open source community to work on their code for free. Nice job Google! I am off to check it out!

    1. Re: Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dude.. its about us all figuring out the future together, we all can contribute to future development- its called "open source".. And many of us feel great about putting our thoughts and establishments togethet and towards shit like this.. drop out on your own terms; the opportunity is now provided, contributed.. and the playground is open so make it or break it and feel great when you develope something that we all can use openly despite the profits

    2. Re:Nice by NotInHere · · Score: 2

      It also makes it available. If google hadn't released it as open source, companies which might have needed such a functionality would have been required to roll their own. This would have been a terrible waste of money and time, as google already has a perfectly working implementation. Now they have resources free to do different things, e.g. to improve the existing implementation, or to focus some other feature of their products.

    3. Re:Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its not a waste of money. It employs developers and testers. You know what is a waste of money? The execs at Google having BILLIONS OF DOLLARS in cash because they have built their empire on the back of Open Source.

    4. Re:Nice by NotInHere · · Score: 2

      And they are contributing back to the community. Now YOU can build an empire on the back of work open sourced by google.

    5. Re: Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How come they don't contribute some of the billions they will. Are back to the community by paying tax ?

  4. Documentation seems lacking by TroII · · Score: 1

    The only documentation I can find gives some bare bones installation instructions, then refers back to itself, claiming to be the "complete documentation." What am I missing?

    --
    "If there was a gay Afro-Puertorican Linux distribution, I'd give it a try" ~lucm
    1. Re:Documentation seems lacking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      https://google-cartographer-ros.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

    2. Re:Documentation seems lacking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well... that link doesn't even work. But the actual page brings up a single small sheet of instructions of how to install with or without ROS and nothing else whatsoever. Stupid. But then again cronies have to protect one another's "IP"

  5. Il Cartogapher! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's makin the maps!
    Il Cartographer!
    He's taking no crap!

  6. to "map" your home by frovingslosh · · Score: 0

    As the robot cleans your dirty floor, it is using sensors combined with a camera to map your home, and send that information directly to the N.S.A..

    There, I fixed it for you. And you wondered why the Romba 980 needed Wi-Fi!

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  7. Old technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pfft. ... Doom had this, like 20 years ago.

    Now, get of my lawn.

  8. maps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So add this to your rc plane / quad, and you will have continously updated maps ?

    1. Re:maps by spacepimp · · Score: 1

      The rc/quad would most likely lack sensors accurate enough to record/merge/filter and build accurate results. The onboard FC of most systems, especially DJI aren't powerful enough to process SLAM. Likely you would need to have lidar/pulsed light/projection mapping etc on board with a powerful enough companion PC to do SFM/SLAM or photogrammetry.

  9. More like 10^(-9) years of human driving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to today's NY Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/us/traffic-deaths-up-more-than-10-percent-in-first-half-of-2016.html ) "Americans drove about 50.5 billion more miles in the first six months of 2016 than in the first half of 2015, an increase of 3.3 percent."

    From this we can deduce that Americans drive about 30 * 50 billion miles in 6 months, or about 3 trillion miles a year. I don't know if the NY Times number is right, but Google has a long long way to go no matter what the number is.

  10. Way to go iRobot! by wonkavader · · Score: 1

    You finally have what Neato Robotics have been doing since 2010.

    But I guess you're cleverer than them -- you charge literally twice as much for a bot that does it.