Typical Methods of Building Large 3D Maps?
I'd like to build a 3D map of our lab (a number of rooms and hallways and cubicles, etc) using a Kinect and/or Turtlebot.
I've looked into a number of methods (right now I'm looking at possibly using RGBDSLAM), but I'd like to know if there are any typical methods people use.
Is RGBDSLAM a good choice for this? Are there other standard methods people use? What are their pros and cons?
(Related side-note: I tried using a Turtlebot with gmapping to build a 2D map of one section of the office, and it came out horribly. It also refused to work properly with any sort of loop closures involving hallways, I think largely because of the Turtlebot's horrible odometry.)
Edit: I Heart Robotics provided some very useful information, but if anyone has more information to offer, I'd very much appreciate it! :)
Please ask the TurtleBot problem as a separate question with any diagnostic information you have. Also, you may want to check that the gyro is calibrated and that you are using the latest turtlebot code. The calibration code has been improved here https://kforge.ros.org/turtlebot/trac/ticket/111
Also this belongs in a seperate question but this may also help with tuning the parameters for gmapping. http://www.iheartrobotics.com/2011/10/mapping-environment.html
I mostly included that just to note other similar things I've tried, but thanks for the info -- it looks very helpful for if I decide to try that again. :)