Selecting a frontier goal for autonomous map building within a space

A robotic device, comprising:

• a camera;
• and
• a processor coupled to the camera and configured to:
• determine trajectory costs for the robotic device traversing from an occupied area to each of a plurality of available frontier goals within a space, wherein the plurality of available frontier goals include positions within the space from which the robotic device is configured to collect information to autonomously build a map of the space;
• classify each of the plurality of available frontier goals as either a one-glance-only or a multi-glance frontier using contextual information, wherein each one-glance-only frontier is closer to the occupied area than the multi-glance frontiers,
• determine co-visibility costs for each of the plurality of available frontier goals, wherein the co-visibility costs are based on one or more effects between the plurality of available frontier goals including a ratio of a number of one-glance-only frontiers traversed to reach the respective available frontier goal over a length of a trajectory route used to reach the respective available frontier goal;
• determine a frontier cost for each of the plurality of available frontier goals based on a difference between a trajectory cost and a co-visibility cost of the respective available frontier goal;
• select one of the plurality of available frontier goals having a lowest determined frontier cost;
• and
• apply a control signal to a vehicle based on the selected one of the plurality of available frontier goals to cause the robotic device to move.

A robotic device, comprising:

• means for determining trajectory costs for the robotic device traversing from an occupied area to each of a plurality of available frontier goals within a space, wherein the plurality of available frontier goals include positions within the space from which the robotic device is configured to collect information to autonomously build a map of the space;
• means for classifying each of the plurality of available frontier goals as either a one-glance-only or a multi-glance frontier using contextual information, wherein each one-glance-only frontier is closer to the occupied area than the multi-glance frontiers;
• means for determining co-visibility costs for each of the plurality of available frontier goals, wherein the co-visibility costs are based on one or more effects between the plurality of available frontier goals including a ratio of a number of one-glance-only frontiers traversed to reach the respective available frontier goal over a length of a trajectory route used to reach the respective available frontier goal;
• means for determining a frontier cost for each of the plurality of available frontier goals based on a difference between a trajectory cost and a co-visibility cost of the respective available frontier goal;
• means for selecting one of the plurality of available frontier goals having a lowest determined frontier cost;
• and
• means for applying a control signal to a vehicle based on the selected one of the plurality of available frontier goals to cause the robotic device to move.

A non-transitory processor-readable medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor of a robotic device to perform operations comprising:

• determining trajectory costs for the robotic device traversing from an occupied area to each of a plurality of available frontier goals within a space, wherein the plurality of available frontier goals include positions within the space from which the robotic device is configured to collect information to autonomously build a map of the space;
• classifying each of the plurality of available frontier goals as either a one-glance-only or a multi-glance frontier using contextual information, wherein each one-glance-only frontier is closer to the occupied area than the multi-glance frontiers;
• determining co-visibility costs for each of the plurality of available frontier goals, wherein the co-visibility costs are based on one or more effects between the plurality of available frontier goals including a ratio of a number of one-glance-only frontiers traversed to reach the respective available frontier goal over a length of a trajectory route used to reach the respective available frontier goal;
• determining a frontier cost for each of the plurality of available frontier goals based on a difference between a trajectory cost and a co-visibility cost of the respective available frontier goal;
• selecting one of the plurality of available frontier goals having a lowest determined frontier cost;
• and
• applying a control signal to a vehicle based on the selected one of the plurality of available frontier goals to cause the robotic device to move.