In robotics, what does the acronym SLAM stand for?

In robotics, SLAM stands for simultaneous localization and mapping.

A SLAM system builds a map of an unfamiliar environment while estimating the robot’s position within that map. It commonly combines sensors such as cameras, laser scanners, wheel encoders and inertial measurement units. The challenge is circular: the robot needs a map to locate itself, but it also needs a reliable location estimate to build the map.

SLAM became especially important for mobile robots operating indoors, underground or in areas without GPS. Modern systems may use visual SLAM, lidar SLAM or combinations of several sensor types. A common mix-up is treating SLAM as only a mapping technique; localization is equally central to the method. The approach is used in autonomous vehicles, warehouse robots, drones, planetary rovers and consumer robotic vacuum cleaners.