Related papers: Naive Bayes Entrapment Detection for Planetary Rov…
Search and rescue environments exhibit challenging 3D geometry (e.g., confined spaces, rubble, and breakdown), which necessitates agile and maneuverable aerial robotic systems. Because these systems are size, weight, and power (SWaP)…
We present a method for image-guided exploration for mobile robotic systems. Our approach extends ergodic exploration methods, a recent exploration approach that prioritizes complete coverage of a space, with the use of a learned image…
Autonomous shipping has recently gained much interest in the research community. However, little research focuses on inland - and port navigation, even though this is identified by countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands as an…
Lunar exploration has become a key focus, driving scientific and technological advances. Ongoing missions are deploying rovers to the surface of the Moon, targeting the far side and south pole. However, these terrains pose challenges,…
Autonomous terrain classification is an important problem in planetary navigation, whether the goal is to identify scientific sites of interest or to traverse treacherous areas safely. Past Martian rovers have relied on human operators to…
This paper proposes a Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) architecture for planetary rovers targeting the conditions of upcoming Mars exploration missions such as Mars 2020 and the Sample Fetching Rover (SFR). The navigation…
Autonomous planetary vehicles, also known as rovers, are small autonomous vehicles equipped with a variety of sensors used to perform exploration and experiments on a planet's surface. Rovers work in a partially unknown environment, with…
Robots are increasingly used to carry out critical missions in extreme environments that are hazardous for humans. This requires a high degree of operational autonomy under uncertain conditions, and poses new challenges for assuring the…
Robotic and human lunar landings are a focus of future NASA missions. Precision landing capabilities are vital to guarantee the success of the mission, and the safety of the lander and crew. During the approach to the surface there are…
We present an approach to enhance wheeled planetary rover dead-reckoning localization performance by leveraging the use of zero-type constraint equations in the navigation filter. Without external aiding, inertial navigation solutions…
Traversability assessment of deformable terrain is vital for safe rover navigation on planetary surfaces. Machine learning (ML) is a powerful tool for traversability prediction but faces predictive uncertainty. This uncertainty leads to…
In critical applications, including search-and-rescue in degraded environments, blockages can be prevalent and prevent the effective deployment of certain sensing modalities, particularly vision, due to occlusion and the constrained range…
Terrain assessment is a key aspect for autonomous exploration rovers, surrounding environment recognition is required for multiple purposes, such as optimal trajectory planning and autonomous target identification. In this work we present a…
International and U.S. strategies and protocols have identified the need to develop rapid-response spacecraft reconnaissance capabilities as a priority to advance planetary defense readiness. A space-based reconnaissance response is…
We compare in this paper several feature selection methods for the Naive Bayes Classifier (NBC) when the data under study are described by a large number of redundant binary indicators. Wrapper approaches guided by the NBC estimation of the…
Today, robotics is an auspicious and fast-growing branch of technology that involves the manufacturing, design, and maintenance of robot machines that can operate in an autonomous fashion and can be used in a wide variety of applications…
Accurate positioning of underwater robots in confined environments is crucial for inspection and mapping tasks and is also a prerequisite for autonomous operations. Presently, there are no positioning systems available that are suited for…
Autonomous Science is a field of study which aims to extend the autonomy of exploration robots from low level functionality, such as on-board perception and obstacle avoidance, to science autonomy, which allows scientists to specify…
In this field report, we detail the lessons learned from our field expedition to collect Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data in a Mars analog environment for the purpose of validating GPR localization techniques in rugged environments.…
Terrain Classification is an essential task in space exploration, where unpredictable environments are difficult to observe using only exteroceptive sensors such as vision. Implementing Neural Network classifiers can have high performance…