Autonomous and Safe Inspection of an Industrial Warehouse by a Multi-rotor MAV

Abstract

This paper reports field tests of autonomous inspection in an industrial indoor facility by a Micro-Air Vehicle (MAV) with no prior knowledge on the environment. Localization, mapping and safe navigation is achieved using only the embedded sensors (stereo-vision, IMU, laser altimeter) and with the entire perception and control loop running on-board of the MAV. An overview of the algorithmic architecture and design choices is provided and the focus is put on mission and safety capabilities that have been demonstrated via several flight tests defined in association with SNCF (French Railways) in one of their train storage warehouse.