  Many problems in computer vision and robotics can be phrased as non-linear
least squares optimization problems represented by factor graphs, for example,
simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), structure from motion (SfM),
motion planning, and control. We have developed an open-source C++/Python
framework miniSAM, for solving such factor graph based least squares problems.
Compared to most existing frameworks for least squares solvers, miniSAM has (1)
full Python/NumPy API, which enables more agile development and easy binding
with existing Python projects, and (2) a wide list of sparse linear solvers,
including CUDA enabled sparse linear solvers. Our benchmarking results shows
miniSAM offers comparable performances on various types of problems, with more
flexible and smoother development experience.
