Over the past two decades, research in the field of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) has undergone a significant evolution, highlighting its critical role in enabling autonomous exploration of unknown environments. This evolution ranges from hand-crafted methods, through the era of deep learning, to more recent developments focused on Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) and 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS) representations. Recognizing the growing body of research and the absence of a comprehensive survey on the topic, this paper aims to provide the first comprehensive overview of SLAM progress through the lens of the latest advancements in radiance fields. It sheds light on the background, evolutionary path, inherent strengths and limitations, and serves as a fundamental reference to highlight the dynamic progress and specific challenges.

翻译：在过去的二十年中，同时定位与地图构建（SLAM）领域的研究经历了显著演变，凸显了其在支持未知环境自主探索中的关键作用。这一演变从手工设计方法起步，历经深度学习时代，直至近期围绕神经辐射场（NeRFs）和3D高斯溅射（3DGS）表示的最新发展。鉴于该领域研究不断增长且尚未有全面综述，本文旨在首次从辐射场最新进展的视角，系统梳理SLAM的发展历程。本文揭示了其背景、演化路径、固有优势与局限，并作为基础性参考，凸显了动态进展与特定挑战。