Navigation & SLAM
Occupancy Grid
An occupancy grid is a spatial map that discretizes the environment into cells, each storing the probability that it is occupied by an obstacle. Introduced by Moravec and Elfes in the 1980s, occupancy grids are updated from range-sensor measurements via Bayesian filtering and remain the dominant map representation for 2D navigation; OctoMap extends the idea to 3D with octrees.
Why it matters for physical AI
Grid maps are the common currency between SLAM, global planners, and local controllers in fielded mobile robots, prized for simplicity, probabilistic noise handling, and constant-time lookups.
Related terms
Build physical AI
Put these concepts to work on real hardware
Axol is a dual-arm robot built for physical AI — teleoperate it, collect demonstrations, and deploy learned policies out of the box.