  A new 3D localization and mapping techinque with terrain inclination
assistance is proposed in this paper to allow a robot to identify its location
and build a global map in an outdoor environment. The Iterative Closest Points
(ICP) algorithm and terrain inclination-based localization are combined
together to achieve accurate and fast localization and mapping. Inclinations of
the terrains the robot navigates are used to achieve local localization during
the interval between two laser scans. Using the results of the above
localization as the initial condition, the ICP algorithm is then applied to
align the overlapped laser scan maps to update the overhanging obstacles for
building a global map of the surrounding area. Comprehensive experiments were
carried out for the validation of the proposed 3D localization and mapping
technique. The experimental results show that the proposed technique could
reduce time consumption and improve the accuracy of the performance.
