Collaborative SLAM and AR-guided navigation for floor layout inspection

This paper presents how visual SLAM and AR interfaces are integrated for inspecting the floor layouts, which is a standard stage in building a semiconductor fabrication plant (commonly called a fab). The proposed system supports multiple inspectors working in a large fab floor through client–server communications. The inspectors/clients scan the fab floor using smartphones to construct the floor map collaboratively, and then, its discrepancy from the given floor plan is checked by the server. The inspection results are broadcast to all clients and visualized via AR to help the inspectors move to unscanned areas. The experiments made with the proposed system show its accuracy and efficiency. By solving a real-world industrial problem, the proposed system proves the benefits that can be brought by integrating collaborative SLAM technique and AR-guided navigation interface.