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arXiv · 2606.19067

Sensor Configuration Matters: A Systematic Evaluation of Multimodal SLAM on Quadruped Robots

Roberto Corlito·Fabian Schmidt·Nils Seibert·Markus Enzweiler·Abhinav Valada·Arne Roennau
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Abstract

Autonomous navigation of quadrupedal robots in diverse environments fundamentally relies on resilient Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). While visual-inertial SLAM has matured across wheeled, handheld, and aerial platforms, a critical evaluation gap remains regarding how hardware-level sensor configurations affect performance under the aggressive dynamics of legged locomotion. Quadrupeds introduce distinct embodiment-induced sensory challenges, including foot-impact shocks, high-frequency mechanical vibrations, and rapid angular rotations, which degrade standard perception pipelines. To address this gap, we present a systematic evaluation of state-of-the-art visual, visual-inertial, and LiDAR-visual-inertial SLAM methods using the GrandTour dataset recorded on an ANYmal D quadruped. We isolate and quantify the impacts of camera modalities, shutter techniques, and inertial sensor tiers, analyzing their trade-offs across localization accuracy, algorithmic robustness, and computational resource utilization. Our empirical findings demonstrate that hardware selection has substantial influence on system resilience: stereo configurations consistently outperform monocular and RGB-D modalities, global shutter cameras significantly mitigate motion-induced tracking failures compared to rolling shutter cameras, and, crucially, standard inertial integration can degrade the performance of primarily vision-based frameworks under harsh legged locomotion. These insights additionally offer concrete design guidelines for tailoring custom sensor payloads to achieve dependable perception on agile legged systems.

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Roberto Corlito, Fabian Schmidt, Nils Seibert, Markus Enzweiler, Abhinav Valada, Arne Roennau. 2026-06-17. Sensor Configuration Matters: A Systematic Evaluation of Multimodal SLAM on Quadruped Robots. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19067

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