Related papers: Autonomous Multirobot Excavation for Lunar Applica…
Plans for establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon will require substantial increases in robot autonomy and multi-robot coordination to support establishing a lunar outpost. To achieve these objectives, algorithm design choices…
The Martian brain terrain (MBT), characterized by its unique brain-like morphology, is a potential geological archive for finding hints of paleoclimatic conditions during its formation period. The morphological similarity of MBT to…
Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) near the lunar poles are of interest for future exploration due to their potential to contain water ice and preserve geological records. Their complex, uneven terrain favors the use of legged robots,…
As robots are increasingly deployed to collaborate on tasks within shared workspaces and resources, the failure of an individual robot can critically affect the group's performance. This issue is particularly challenging when robots lack…
Mid-Air Deployment (MAD) of a rotorcraft during Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) on Mars eliminates the need to carry a propulsion or airbag landing system. This reduces the total mass inside the aeroshell by more than 100 kg and simplifies…
Satellite-based remote sensing is instrumental in the monitoring and mitigation of the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Large scale, high resolution data derived from these sensors can be used to inform intervention and policy…
Landing robotic spacecrafts and humans on Mars has become one of the inevitable technological necessities for humans. Effectuating perfect Mars expedition requires landing of enormous cargoes, crewed modules, ascent vehicles, and scientific…
Reliable coordination and efficient communication are critical challenges for multi-agent robotic exploration of environments where communication is limited. This work introduces Adaptive-RF Transmission (ART), a novel communication-aware…
Global localization is necessary for autonomous operations on the lunar surface where traditional Earth-based navigation infrastructure, such as GPS, is unavailable. As NASA advances toward sustained lunar presence under the Artemis…
Multirotor aerial robots excel at maneuvering in three-dimensional space, and recent advances enable nimble navigation in cluttered and confined environments, especially for small airframes. By contrast, platforms built for high-altitude…
Dynamic control of a soft-body robot to deliver complex behaviors with low-dimensional actuation inputs is challenging. In this paper, we present a computational approach to automatically generate versatile, underactuated control policies…
This paper presents the Multi-Objective Ant Nesting Algorithm (MOANA), a novel extension of the Ant Nesting Algorithm (ANA), specifically designed to address multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). MOANA incorporates adaptive…
In recent years, the application of Deep Learning techniques has shown remarkable success in various computer vision tasks, paving the way for their deployment in extraterrestrial exploration. Transfer learning has emerged as a powerful…
This paper presents an autonomous navigation framework for reaching a goal in unknown 3D cluttered environments. The framework consists of three main components. First, a computationally efficient method for mapping the environment from the…
Decentralized collaborative simultaneous localization and mapping (C-SLAM) is essential to enable multirobot missions in unknown environments without relying on preexisting localization and communication infrastructure. This technology is…
The emergence of small satellites and CubeSats for interplanetary exploration will mean hundreds if not thousands of spacecraft exploring every corner of the solar-system. Current methods for communication and tracking of deep space probes…
Efficient exploration strategies are vital in tasks such as search-and-rescue missions and disaster surveying. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become particularly popular in such applications, promising to cover large areas at high…
Shared autonomy provides an effective framework for human-robot collaboration that takes advantage of the complementary strengths of humans and robots to achieve common goals. Many existing approaches to shared autonomy make restrictive…
We are at a unique timeline in the history of human evolution where we may be able to discover earth-like planets around stars outside our solar system where conditions can support life or even find evidence of life on those planets. With…
This paper presents a novel strategy for autonomous teamed exploration of subterranean environments using legged and aerial robots. Tailored to the fact that subterranean settings, such as cave networks and underground mines, often involve…