Robot localization using variance sampling

A method comprising:

• while a robot traverses an environment:
• receiving, at data processing hardware, odometry information plotting a location of the robot over time;
• and
• receiving, at the data processing hardware, from at least one sensor of the robot in communication with the data processing hardware, sensor data of the environment about the robot;
• obtaining, by the data processing hardware, an odometry information sample including a series of odometry information members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each odometry information member of the series of odometry information members comprising a respective odometry measurement at a respective time;
• obtaining, by the data processing hardware, a sensor data sample including a series of sensor data members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members comprising a respective sensor measurement at the respective time;
• for each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members:
• determining, by the data processing hardware, a localization of the robot at the respective time based on the respective sensor data;
• and
• determining, by the data processing hardware, an offset of the localization of the robot relative to the odometry measurement at the respective time;
• determining, by the data processing hardware, whether a variance of the offsets determined for the localizations exceeds a threshold variance;
• and
• when the variance among the offsets exceeds the threshold variance, generating, by the data processing hardware, a signal indicating that the sensor data is unreliable, wherein the variance of the offsets is a sample variance.

A system comprising:

• data processing hardware;
• and
• memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
• while a robot traverses an environment:
• receiving odometry information plotting a location of the robot over time;
• and
• receiving from at least one sensor of the robot in communication with the data processing hardware, sensor data of the environment about the robot;
• obtaining an odometry information sample including a series of odometry information members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each odometry information member of the series of odometry information members comprising a respective odometry measurement at a respective time;
• obtaining a sensor data sample including a series of sensor data members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members comprising a respective sensor measurement at the respective time;
• for each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members:
• determining a localization of the robot at the respective time based on the respective sensor data;
• and
• determining an offset of the localization of the robot relative to the odometry measurement at the respective time;
• determining whether a variance of the offsets determined for the localizations exceeds a threshold variance;
• and
• when the variance among the offsets exceeds the threshold variance, generating, by the data processing hardware, a signal indicating that the sensor data is unreliable, wherein the variance of the offsets is a sample variance.

A robot comprising:

• a body;
• data processing hardware;
• and
• memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
• while a robot traverses an environment:
• receiving odometry information plotting a location of the robot over time;
• and
• receiving from at least one sensor of the robot in communication with the data processing hardware, sensor data of the environment about the robot;
• obtaining an odometry information sample including a series of odometry information members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each odometry information member of the series of odometry information members comprising a respective odometry measurement at a respective time;
• obtaining a sensor data sample including a series of sensor data members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members comprising a respective sensor measurement at the respective time;
• for each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members:
• determining a localization of the robot at the respective time based on the respective sensor data;
• and
• determining an offset of the localization of the robot relative to the odometry measurement at the respective time;
• determining whether a variance of the offsets determined for the localizations exceeds a threshold variance;
• when the variance among the offsets exceeds the threshold variance, generating, by the data processing hardware, a signal indicating that the sensor data is unreliable;
• and
• adjusting, by the data processing hardware, relative weights of the odometry information and the sensor data based on whether the offsets determined for the localizations exceed the threshold variance.

A robot comprising:

• a body;
• data processing hardware;
• and
• memory hardware in communication with the data processing hardware, the memory hardware storing instructions that when executed on the data processing hardware cause the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
• while a robot traverses an environment:
• receiving odometry information plotting a location of the robot over time;
• and
• receiving from at least one sensor of the robot in communication with the data processing hardware, sensor data of the environment about the robot;
• obtaining an odometry information sample including a series of odometry information members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each odometry information member of the series of odometry information members comprising a respective odometry measurement at a respective time;
• obtaining a sensor data sample including a series of sensor data members collected by the robot while traversing the environment, each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members comprising a respective sensor measurement at the respective time;
• for each sensor data member of the series of sensor data members:
• determining a localization of the robot at the respective time based on the respective sensor data;
• and
• determining an offset of the localization of the robot relative to the odometry measurement at the respective time;
• determining whether a variance of the offsets determined for the localizations exceeds a threshold variance;
• and
• when the variance among the offsets exceeds the threshold variance, generating, by the data processing hardware, a signal indicating that the sensor data is unreliable, wherein the series of sensor data members includes a reference sensor data member and a plurality of comparison sensor data members.