Related papers: Finding and Following Optimal Trajectories for an …
Space mission design places a premium on cost and operational efficiency. The search for new science and life beyond Earth calls for spacecraft that can deliver scientific payloads to geologically rich yet hazardous landing sites. At the…
This paper presents the development of a tangible platform for demonstrating the practical implementation of cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) systems, an enhancement to the standard adaptive cruise control (ACC) concept by means…
Small-scale autonomous vehicle platforms provide a cost-effective environment for developing and testing advanced driving systems. However, specific configurations within this scale are underrepresented, limiting full awareness of their…
Recent years have seen significant progress in the realm of robot autonomy, accompanied by the expanding reach of robotic technologies. However, the emergence of new deployment domains brings unprecedented challenges in ensuring safe…
Collapsing terrains, often present in search and rescue missions or planetary exploration, pose significant challenges for quadruped robots. This paper introduces a robust locomotion framework for safe navigation over unstable surfaces by…
A controller -- a software module managing hardware behavior -- is a key component of a typical robot system. While control theory gives safety guarantees for standard controller designs, the practical implementation of controllers in…
With the development of robotics, ground robots are no longer limited to planar motion. Passive height variation due to complex terrain and active height control provided by special structures on robots require a more general navigation…
Modular Aerial Robotic Systems (MARS) consist of multiple drone units assembled into a single, integrated rigid flying platform. With inherent redundancy, MARS can self-reconfigure into different configurations to mitigate rotor or unit…
Many robotic systems must follow planned paths yet pause safely and resume when people or objects intervene. We present an output-space method for systems whose tracked output can be feedback-linearized to a double integrator (e.g.,…
As robots operate in increasingly complex and dynamic environments, fast motion re-planning has become a widely explored area of research. In a real-world deployment, we often lack the ability to fully observe the environment at all times,…
This study develops an AI-based implementation of autonomous On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) mission to assist with spacecraft collision avoidance maneuvers (CAMs). We propose an autonomous `servicer' trained with Reinforcement Learning (RL) to…
Floating-base multi-link robots can change their shape during flight, making them well-suited for applications in confined environments such as autonomous inspection and search and rescue. However, trajectory planning for such systems…
In the search for a sustainable approach for software ecosystems that supports experimental and observational science (EOS) across Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), we conducted a survey to understand the current and future landscape of…
In recent years, the Robot Operating System (ROS) is developing rapidly and has been widely used in robotics research because of its flexible, open source, and extensive advantages. In scientific research, the corresponding hardware…
Enhancing robot navigation efficiency is a crucial objective in modern robotics. Robots relying on external navigation systems are often susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and encounter environmental disturbances, resulting…
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), commonly known as drones, have many potential uses in real world applications. Drones require advanced planning and navigation algorithms to enable them to safely move through and interact with the world…
A fundamental capability for On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) is inspection of the vehicle to be serviced, or the structure being assembled. This research assumes autonomous slewing to maintain situational awareness of…
This paper presents a continuous optimization approach to DCOC and its application to spacecraft high-precision attitude control. The approach computes a control input sequence that maximizes the time-before-exit by solving a nonlinear…
The need for space test professionals is growing rapidly, due to establishment of the US Space Force and the extremely rapid growth of the commercial space industry. The future of space test looks bright and complex; a better training…
Space has emerged as an exciting new application area for machine learning, with several missions equipping deep learning capabilities on-board spacecraft. Pre-processing satellite data through on-board training is necessary to address the…