Analysis of Robust Functions for Registration Algorithms

Registration accuracy is influenced by the presence of outliers and numerous robust solutions have been developed over the years to mitigate their effect. However, without a large scale comparison of solutions to filter outliers, it is becoming tedious to select an appropriate algorithm for a given application. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the effects of outlier filters on the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm aimed at a mobile robotic application. Fourteen of the most common outlier filters (such as M-estimators) have been tested in different types of environments, for a total of more than two million registrations. Furthermore, the influence of tuning parameters has been thoroughly explored. The experimental results show that most outlier filters have a similar performance if they are correctly tuned. Nonetheless, filters such as Var. Trim., Cauchy, and Cauchy MAD are more stable against different environment types. Interestingly, the simple norm L ₁ produces comparable accuracy, while being parameterless.