Advancements in perception system with multi-sensor fusion for embodied agents

The multi-sensor data fusion perception technology, as a pivotal technique for achieving complex environmental perception and decision-making, has been garnering extensive attention from researchers. To date, there has been a lack of comprehensive review articles discussing the research progress of multi-sensor fusion perception systems for embodied agents, particularly in terms of analyzing the agent’s perception of itself and the surrounding scene. To address this gap and encourage further research, this study defines key terminology and analyzes datasets from the past two decades, focusing on advancements in multi-sensor fusion SLAM and multi-sensor scene perception. These key designs can aid researchers in gaining a better understanding of the field and initiating research in the domain of multi-sensor fusion perception for embodied agents. In this survey, we begin with a brief introduction to common sensor types and their characteristics. We then delve into the multi-sensor fusion perception datasets tailored for the domains of autonomous driving, drones, unmanned ground vehicles, and unmanned surface vehicles. Following this, we discuss the classification and fundamental principles of existing multi-sensor data fusion SLAM algorithms, and present the experimental outcomes of various classical fusion frameworks. Subsequently, we comprehensively review the technologies of multi-sensor data fusion scene perception, including object detection, semantic segmentation, instance segmentation, and panoramic understanding. Finally, we summarize our findings and discuss potential future developments in multi-sensor fusion perception technology.