FURI | Fall 2019

Towards Autonomous Thermal Imaging Robots for Heat Sensing

Heat poses a major health risk that particularly affects cyber-physical infrastructures in cities. Heat-sensing maps can be used to reduce overexposure risks to humans. In this research project, we analyze how a robot equipped with a thermal camera can efficiently acquire a map of the surrounding area, localize its position within the map, and autonomously navigate this map to perform heat-sensing measurements. We evaluate how different SLAM algorithms perform using thermal imagery and determine optimal navigation and sensing policies to ensure these robots can efficiently scan and detect heat hazards and changing environmental conditions.