Related papers: REAL: Rapid Exploration with Active Loop-Closing t…

In exploration, the goal is to build a map of an unknown environment. Most state-of-the-art approaches use map representations that require drift-free state estimates to function properly. Real-world state estimators, however, exhibit…

The ability to recognize previously mapped locations is an essential feature for autonomous systems. Unstructured planetary-like environments pose a major challenge to these systems due to the similarity of the terrain. As a result, the…

In this paper, we address the challenge of exploring unknown indoor aerial environments using autonomous aerial robots with Size Weight and Power (SWaP) constraints. The SWaP constraints induce limits on mission time requiring efficiency in…

In the event of natural or man-made disasters in an urban environment, such as fires, floods, and earthquakes, a swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can rapidly sweep and provide coverage to monitor the area of interest and locate…

Environment mapping is an essential prerequisite for mobile robots to perform different tasks such as navigation and mission planning. With the availability of low-cost 2D LiDARs, there are increasing applications of such 2D LiDARs in…

3D models are an essential part of many robotic applications. In applications where the environment is unknown a-priori, or where only a part of the environment is known, it is important that the 3D model can handle the unknown space…

The ability to perform autonomous exploration is essential for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) operating in unstructured or unknown environments where it is hard or even impossible to describe the environment beforehand. However, algorithms…

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used platforms to carry data capturing sensors for various applications. The reason for this success can be found in many aspects: the high maneuverability of the UAVs, the capability of performing…

Active visual SLAM finds a wide array of applications in GNSS-Denied sub-terrain environments and outdoor environments for ground robots. To achieve robust localization and mapping accuracy, it is imperative to incorporate the perception…

Quadrotors hold significant promise for several applications such as agriculture, search and rescue, and infrastructure inspection. Achieving autonomous operation requires systems to navigate safely through complex and unfamiliar…

Autonomous exploration allows mobile robots to navigate in initially unknown territories in order to build complete representations of the environments. In many real-life applications, environments often contain dynamic obstacles which can…

This research aims at developing path and motion planning algorithms for a tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to visually assist a teleoperated primary robot in unstructured or confined environments. The emerging state of the practice…

This paper proposes a 2-D autonomous exploration and mapping framework for LiDAR-based SLAM mobile robots, designed to address the major challenges on low-cost platforms, including process instability, map drift, and increased risks of…

Autonomous robotic exploration in remote and extreme environments allows scientists to model complex transport phenomena and collective behaviors described by continuously deforming flow fields. Although these environments are naturally…

Active target sensing is the task of discovering and classifying an unknown number of targets in an environment and is critical in search-and-rescue missions. This paper develops a deep reinforcement learning approach to plan informative…

Reasons for mapping an unknown environment with autonomous robots are wide-ranging, but in practice, they are often overlooked when developing planning strategies. Rapid information gathering and comprehensive structural assessment of…

This paper introduces FALCON, a novel Fast Autonomous expLoration framework using COverage path guidaNce, which aims at setting a new performance benchmark in the field of autonomous aerial exploration. Despite recent advancements in the…

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming increasingly useful for tasks which require the acquisition of data over large areas. The coverage problem, i.e., the problem of periodically visiting all subregions of an area at a desired…

High-speed obstacle avoidance of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in cluttered environments is a significant challenge. Existing UAV planning and obstacle avoidance systems can only fly at moderate speeds or at high speeds over empty or…

Although ground robotic autonomy has gained widespread usage in structured and controlled environments, autonomy in unknown and off-road terrain remains a difficult problem. Extreme, off-road, and unstructured environments such as…