#LiDAR-SLAM

Robotics Primer September 7, 2026

LiDAR-SLAM Primer — Knowing "Where Am I" from Laser Point Clouds

A camera infers distance indirectly from patterns of reflected light; a LiDAR measures distance directly from the time of flight of a laser pulse. LiDAR-SLAM is the technology built on registering the point clouds this active ranging sensor returns. This article works systematically from the two pillars of scan matching, ICP and NDT, through LOAM's feature design, Loop Closure and Graph SLAM, up to the lineage of landmark algorithms — LeGO-LOAM, Cartographer, LIO-SAM, FAST-LIO2.

Fundamentals · 20 min Technology Trends July 21, 2026

Technology Trends in LiDAR-SLAM

From the LOAM lineage to direct methods like FAST-LIO, and on to D-LIO, published in 2026. Surveying the evolution of LiDAR-and-IMU-based self-localization and mapping, set against newbot's own implementation.

Trends · 6 min