{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T23:59:20Z","timestamp":1773705560921,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,2]],"date-time":"2023-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1693612800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Nationaal Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Operating in extreme environments is often challenging due to the lack of perceptual knowledge. During fire incidents in large buildings, the extreme levels of smoke can seriously impede a firefighter\u2019s vision, potentially leading to severe material damage and loss of life. To increase the safety of firefighters, research is conducted in collaboration with Dutch fire departments into the usability of Unmanned Ground Vehicles to increase situational awareness in hazardous environments. This paper proposes FirebotSLAM, the first algorithm capable of coherently computing a robot\u2019s odometry while creating a comprehensible 3D map solely using the information extracted from thermal images. The literature showed that the most challenging aspect of thermal Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is the extraction of robust features in thermal images. Therefore, a practical benchmark of feature extraction and description methods was performed on datasets recorded during a fire incident. The best-performing combination of extractor and descriptor is then implemented into a state-of-the-art visual SLAM algorithm. As a result, FirebotSLAM is the first thermal odometry algorithm able to perform global trajectory optimization by detecting loop closures. Finally, FirebotSLAM is the first thermal SLAM algorithm to be tested in a fiery environment to validate its applicability in an operational scenario.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23177611","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,4]],"date-time":"2023-09-04T02:59:55Z","timestamp":1693796395000},"page":"7611","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["FirebotSLAM: Thermal SLAM to Increase Situational Awareness in Smoke-Filled Environments"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5465-3064","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Benjamin Ronald","family":"van Manen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Ari\u00ebnsplein 1-300, 7511 JX Enschede, The Netherlands"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8571-7892","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Victor","family":"Sluiter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Ari\u00ebnsplein 1-300, 7511 JX Enschede, The Netherlands"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0457-5293","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abeje Yenehun","family":"Mersha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Smart Mechatronics And RoboTics (SMART) Research Group, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Ari\u00ebnsplein 1-300, 7511 JX Enschede, The Netherlands"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Khattak, S., Mascarich, F., Dang, T., Papachristos, C., and Alexis, K. 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