PUL-SLAM: Path-Uncertainty Co-Optimization with Lightweight Stagnation Detection for Efficient Robotic Exploration

TL;DR

PUL-SLAM introduces a hybrid deep reinforcement learning framework with stagnation detection to enhance robotic exploration efficiency, significantly reducing exploration time and path length while ensuring reliable mapping.

Contribution

It presents a novel co-optimization approach combining path uncertainty and stagnation detection, improving exploration speed and map quality over existing methods.

Findings

Shortens exploration time by up to 65%.

Reduces path distance by up to 42%.

Successfully transfers from simulation to real-world robots.

Abstract

Existing Active SLAM methodologies face issues such as slow exploration speed and suboptimal paths. To address these limitations, we propose a hybrid framework combining a Path-Uncertainty Co-Optimization Deep Reinforcement Learning framework and a Lightweight Stagnation Detection mechanism. The Path-Uncertainty Co-Optimization framework jointly optimizes travel distance and map uncertainty through a dual-objective reward function, balancing exploration and exploitation. The Lightweight Stagnation Detection reduces redundant exploration through Lidar Static Anomaly Detection and Map Update Stagnation Detection, terminating episodes on low expansion rates. Experimental results show that compared with the frontier-based method and RRT method, our approach shortens exploration time by up to 65% and reduces path distance by up to 42%, significantly improving exploration efficiency in complex environments while maintaining reliable map completeness. Ablation studies confirm that the collaborative mechanism accelerates training convergence. Empirical validation on a physical robotic platform demonstrates the algorithm's practical applicability and its successful transferability from simulation to real-world environments.