RGB-L: Enhancing Indirect Visual SLAM Using LiDAR-Based Dense Depth Maps

In this paper, we present a novel method for integrating 3D LiDAR depth measurements into the existing ORB-SLAM3 by building upon the RGB-D mode. We propose and compare two methods of depth map generation: conventional computer vision methods, namely an inverse dilation operation, and a supervised deep learning-based approach. We integrate the former directly into the ORB-SLAM3 framework by adding a so-called RGB-L (LiDAR) mode that directly reads LiDAR point clouds. The proposed methods are evaluated on the KITTI Odometry dataset and compared to each other and the standard ORB-SLAM3 stereo method. We demonstrate that, depending on the environment, advantages in trajectory accuracy and robustness can be achieved. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the runtime of the ORB-SLAM3 algorithm can be reduced by more than 40 % compared to the stereo mode. The related code for the ORB-SLAM3 RGB-L mode is available as open-source software under https://github.com/TUMFTM/ORBSLAM3RGBL.