SLIDER: Sparse History-Guided Aerial Robot Target Search using Sliding Local Maps. Accepted by IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2026. Learn more about the project by clicking the cover image below (Youtube link).
We validated SLIDER on a custom-built UAV platform in unstructured environments. The system demonstrates robust performance with onboard computing.
We would like to express our gratitude to the following projects, which have provided significant support and inspiration for our work:
- STEAM: An Efficient Framework for Fast UAV Exploration. [Under Review]
- SUPER: Safety-assured high-speed navigation for MAVs. Our work uses its planning module.
- EPIC: A Lightweight LiDAR-Based UAV Exploration Framework for Large-Scale Scenarios.
- MARSIM: A Light-weight Point-realistic Simulator for LiDAR-based UAVs.
SLIDER builds on the lightweight topological mapping module from STEAM, our prior work. The code will be released after STEAM becomes publicly available.
@ARTICLE{11614439,
author={Hou, Xiaolei and Pan, Zheng and Lan, Hua and Zou, Zhenghao and Chen, Yinhong and Zhu, Chenxi and Lyu, Yang and Hu, Jinwen and Zhao, Chunhui},
journal={IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters},
title={SLIDER: Sparse History-Guided Aerial Robot Target Search Using Sliding Local Maps},
year={2026},
volume={},
number={},
pages={1-8},
keywords={Timing;Memory;Robots;Costing;Costs;Autonomous aerial vehicles;Modeling;Clouds;Distance measurement;Real-time systems;Aerial Systems: Perception and Autonomy;Aerial Systems: Applications;Search and Rescue Robots},
doi={10.1109/LRA.2026.3715036}}