Robot Localization

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Overview

Robot localization estimates a robot’s pose over time, either relative to its starting point or within a global map, so it can navigate and act safely. Common approaches fuse cameras, LiDAR, radar, inertial sensors, GNSS, and radio ranging with Kalman filters, particle filters, or factor-graph optimization; map matching and place recognition help recover pose or recognize previously visited places. Recent methods also use semantic landmarks, cross-view imagery, learned representations, and cooperative measurements shared between robots. A central challenge is maintaining reliable, well-calibrated estimates when sensors lose information, environments change, or scenes are repetitive, while keeping computation practical for onboard use.

Latest papers

CardsList

179 papers21 papers in the last four weeks, up 11% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. AFast Robot Localization Method Based on Monte Carlo Sampling

    Oct 29, 2026He Zhaoqing, Hang Li, Xian Pu +1Robot Localization

    China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Beijing, 100191, China

  2. Self-Supervised Doppler-Guided RF Odometry

    Oct 28, 2026Kunzhe Song, Jialuo Du, Jingkai Lin +1Robot State EstimationRobot Localization

    Michigan State University

  3. OpenJaws: An Open Hardware UMI Framework with Stereo Localization for Generalist Manipulation

    Oct 27, 2026Adithyavairavan Murali, Yash Oza, Karanbir Chahal +6Robot LocalizationRobotic Manipulation

  4. Resilient Decentralized Radar-LiDAR-Inertial Odometry in Challenging Subterranean Environments

    Oct 23, 2026Moumita Mukherjee, Avijit Banerjee, Anton Koval +1Robot LocalizationRadar-LiDAR Fusion

    Robotics and AI Team, Department of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden

  5. Monte Carlo-Based Indoor UAV Localization in Dynamic Environments Using Only Four Onboard Range Sensors

    Oct 23, 2026Mohammad Reza Ranjbar Divkoti, A. Pedro AguiarRobot LocalizationParticle Filtering

    SYSTEC-ARISE Research Center for Systems and Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.

  6. OmniVLoc: Topo-metric Visual Localization for Omnidirectional Cameras

    Oct 20, 2026Zhuo Yu, Shuyang Zhang, Huihua Zhu +6Robot LocalizationCamera Pose Estimation

    College of Mechatronics and Control Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060, China. · College of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518060, China. · College of Artificial Intelligence, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710049, China. +2

  7. PlanarCityLoc: Breaking Silhouette Ambiguity in LoD Aerial Localization via 3D Planes

    Oct 19, 2026Oussema Dhaouadi, Shao Jie Hu-Chen, Jakob Gollreiter +10Robot LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    Technical University of Munich · University of Cambridge · ETH Zürich +5

  8. Localization and Neural Splatting on the Edge: An FPGA Scene Memory for Robots

    Oct 18, 2026Haohua Que, Mingkai Liu, Tianle Zhu +13DGS AccelerationFPGA Acceleration

    School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

  9. PASS: A Trustworthy Precision Approach Simulation System for CAT III Integrity Algorithm Development

    Oct 16, 2026Lang Zhu, Xin Zhang, Yulong Sun +4Synthetic Data Generation for RoboticsRobot Localization

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China · Flight Automatic Control Research Institute, Xi'an, China

  10. Micro-Localization: High-Precision Mobile Robot Localization Using Microscopic Ground Texture

    Oct 15, 2026Aaron Wilhelm, Marina de Albuquerque Marcon, Emith Uyanwatte +1Robot LocalizationMobile Robotics

    Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.

  11. RTISSLAM-3D: Full 6-DoF SLAM With an In-Air 3D Imaging Sonar

    Oct 15, 2026Jan Steckel, Vincent Katter, Wouter JansenSimultaneous Localization and MappingRobot Localization

    Cosys-Lab, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium · Flanders Make Strategic Research Centre, 3920 Lommel, Belgium

  12. LIN-SLAM: Lightweight LiDAR--Inertial Neural SLAM for Real-Time Onboard Navigation

    Oct 15, 2026Shiqi Che, Yijie Liu, Shuo Wang +1Simultaneous Localization and MappingRobot Localization

    School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China

  13. RTISSLAM: In-air Imaging Sonar SLAM using a Robust Pose Graph and Occupancy Grid Mapping

    Oct 13, 2026Jan SteckelOccupancy Grid MappingSimultaneous Localization and Mapping

    Cosys-Lab, Faculty of Applied Engineering, University of Antwerp, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium · Flanders Make Strategic Research Centre, 3920 Lommel, Belgium

  14. Information-based Unified Design Framework for NMR Magnetic Tracking System

    Oct 13, 2026Seçkin Eren Yetim, Mehmet Efe TiryakiRobot Localization

    METU-ROMER, Center for Robotics and AI, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Türkiye. · Department of Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Türkiye.

  15. DSM-Free UAV Visual Localization via Latent-Depth Variable Projection and Structure-Adaptive Coupling

    Oct 10, 2026Yibin Ye, Xichao Teng, Shuo Chen +4Robot LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China, and Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Image Measurement and Vision Navigation, Changsha 410073, China. · College of Electronic Science and Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China.

  16. ToF-Wheel Odometry: Navigating Degeneration of Localization With Limited Sensing Capabilities

    Oct 10, 2026Xu Yang, Wenhao Li, Zhengyu Wei +3Robot State EstimationRobot Localization

    Deptrum Ltd.

  17. When LiDAR Fades, Radar Takes Over: LiDAR Reliability-Aware Adaptive Localization Under Airborne Obscurants

    Oct 9, 2026Moumita Mukherjee, Avijit Banerjee, Anton Koval +1Robot LocalizationLiDAR Odometry

    Robotics and AI Group, Department of Computer, Electrical and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden

  18. TAPNAV: Humanoid Navigation through Tactile Active Perception

    Oct 7, 2026Huaze Liu, Zhenyu Wu, Jaehwi Jang +8Robot NavigationMobile Robotics

    Georgia Institute of Technology · Harvey Mudd College · Walton High School

  19. Towards Accurate End-Effector Localization for UMI-Style Robotic Manipulation Teaching

    Oct 7, 2026Junjie Zhang, Deteng Zhang, Zhisong Xu +4Robot LocalizationRobot Manipulation Benchmarks

    Chongqing University · Northwestern Polytechnical University · The University of Tokyo +4

  20. FlightMagNav: An Open Dataset and Probabilistic Map Learning and Validation Framework for Outdoor Magnetic Field-Based Positioning

    Oct 6, 2026Isaac Skog, Miguel Ramos Galrinho, Martin GelinRobot LocalizationUAV Navigation

    KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden · FOI Swedish Defence Research Agency Kista, Sweden

  21. SURGE: Sonar-fUsed Reconstruction and localization via image-gated Graph Estimation

    Oct 5, 2026Mohammed Ibrahim M, Vallabh Deogaonkar, Trung Dong +3Underwater 3D ReconstructionRobot Localization

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of South Florida Tampa, FL, USA · Department of Ocean Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai, India · Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering Seoul National University Seoul, South Korea

  22. Towards Quadruped-Provided Localization and Active Tracking for Micro-UAVs

    Oct 5, 2026Alejandro Lorite Mora, Andrés FaíñaUAV NavigationCooperative Localization

    IT University of Copenhagen, Rued Langgaards Vej 7, Copenhagen 2300, Denmark · Helix Lab, Campus Kalundborg 3, 4400 Kalundborg, Denmark · Novo Nordisk A/S, Hallas Alle 1, 4400 Kalundborg, Denmark

  23. FreeLoc: Online Floorplan Localization via Diffusion-Aided Pose Refinement

    Oct 4, 2026Haocheng Peng, Boyang Zhou, Jiarui Hu +7Floor-Plan-Based Visual LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    State Key Lab of CAD&CG, Zhejiang University

  24. BLT*: Informed Belief Localization Trees for Uncertainty-Aware Planning on Digital Twins

    Oct 1, 2026Elliot Preston-Krebs, Abhishek Goudar, Timothy D. BarfootBelief-Space PlanningDigital Twins

    University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), 4925 Dufferin St, Ontario, Canada.

  25. Transformer-based Monte Carlo Localization in Construction Meshes

    Sep 25, 2026Linus Kramer, William Talbot, Olga Vysotska +1Robot LocalizationLiDAR Localization

    Robotic Systems Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8092, Switzerland

  26. SeA-RVINS: Semantic-Aware Tightly Coupled RTK-Visual-Inertial System with Correlation-Preserving Robust Estimation for Urban Navigation

    Sep 25, 2026Wang Hu, Bo WuRobot LocalizationVisual-Inertial Odometry

    UC Riverside

  27. TinyCVIO: A Constellation-Aided Visual-Inertial Odometry System for Nanodrones

    Sep 24, 2026Derin Ozturk, Kaan Akan, Irwin Wang +1Visual-Inertial OdometryUAV Navigation

    Department of ECE, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

  28. UpDown-SC: Gravity-Canonicalized Dual-Envelope Scan Context for Indoor LiDAR Place Recognition

    Sep 24, 2026Jie Xu, Yongxin Yang, Ziyi Jin +4LiDAR Place RecognitionLiDAR Localization

    Anyverse Dynamics, Beijing, China

  29. A Field-Deployable GNSS-based Navigation Stack for Outdoor Mobile Robots

    Sep 24, 2026Yiyuan Lin, Cole Regnier, Yu JiangRobot Trajectory TrackingRobot Navigation

    School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA · School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell AgriTech, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, USA

  30. Dr-LiSA: Direct Radar-Lidar Scan Alignment for SE(3) Localization

    Sep 22, 2026Alex Zhang, Daniil Lisus, Cedric Le Gentil +1LiDAR LocalizationMap-Based Localization

    Robotics Institute, University of Toronto, Canada · Mobile Robotics Lab, ETH Zürich, Switzerland