A sampling-based multi-tree fusion algorithm for frontier detection

Autonomous exploration is a key step toward real robotic autonomy. Among various approaches for autonomous exploration, frontier-based methods are most commonly used. One efficient method of frontier detection exploits the idea of the rapidly-exploring random tree and uses tree edges to search for frontiers. However, this method usually needs to consume a lot of memory resources and searches for frontiers slowly in the environments where random trees are not easy to grow (unfavorable environments). In this article, a sampling-based multi-tree fusion algorithm for frontier detection is proposed. Firstly, the random tree’s growing and storage rules are changed so that the disadvantage of its slow growing under unfavorable environments is overcome. Secondly, a block structure is proposed to judge whether tree nodes in a block play a decisive role in frontier detection, so that a large number of redundant tree nodes can be deleted. Finally, two random trees with different growing rules are fused to speed up frontier detection. Experimental results in both simulated and real environments demonstrate that our algorithm for frontier detection consumes fewer memory resources and shows better performances in unfavorable environments.