A Novel SLAM Approach for Trajectory Generation of a Dual-Arm Mobile Robot (DAMR) Using Sensor Fusion

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is essential for autonomous movement in intelligent robotic systems. Traditional SLAM using a single sensor, such as an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), faces challenges including noise and drift. This paper introduces a novel Cartographer-based SLAM approach for DAMR trajectory generation in indoor environments to reduce drift errors and improve localization accuracy. This SLAM approach integrates multi-sensor data with extended Kalman filter (EKF) fusion from wheel odometry, an RGB-D camera (RTAB-Map), and an IMU for precise mapping with DAMR trajectory generation and is compared with the heading reference trajectory generated by robot pose estimation and frame transformation. This system is implemented in the Robot Operating System (ROS 2) for coordinated data acquisition, processing, and visualization. After experimental verification, the DAMR trajectories generated are closer to the reference trajectory and drift errors are tuned. The experimental results revealed that the DAMR trajectory with multi-sensor data integration using the EKF effectively improved the positioning accuracy and robustness of the system. The proposed approach shows improved alignment with the reference trajectory, yielding a mean displacement error of 0.352% and an absolute trajectory error of 0.007 m, highlighting the effectiveness of the fusion approach for accurate indoor robot navigation.