Related papers: ShadowNav: Autonomous Global Localization for Luna…
This letter presents a self-contained system for robust deployment of autonomous aerial vehicles in environments without access to global navigation systems and with limited lighting conditions. The proposed system, application-tailored for…
Terrain relative navigation can improve the precision of a spacecraft's position estimate by detecting global features that act as supplementary measurements to correct for drift in the inertial navigation system. This paper presents a…
In this work, we propose the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for rover localization on Mars. Precise pose estimation is an important task for mobile robots exploring planetary surfaces, as they operate in GPS-denied environments.…
Exploration of the lunar south pole with a solar-powered rover is challenging due to the highly dynamic solar illumination conditions and the presence of permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). In turn, careful planning in space and time is…
For autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) deployed in suburban neighborhoods and other human-centric environments the problem of localization remains a fundamental challenge. There are well established methods for localization with GPS, lidar,…
Mobile robotics is a research area that has witnessed incredible advances for the last decades. Robot navigation is an essential task for mobile robots. Many methods are proposed for allowing robots to navigate within different…
Monocular Depth Estimation (MDE) is crucial for autonomous lunar rover navigation using electro-optical cameras. However, deploying terrestrial MDE networks to the Moon brings a severe domain gap due to harsh shadows, textureless regolith,…
Autonomous navigation at high speeds in off-road environments necessitates robots to comprehensively understand their surroundings using onboard sensing only. The extreme conditions posed by the off-road setting can cause degraded camera…
This article proposes a Deep Learning (DL) method to enable fully autonomous flights for low-cost Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) in unknown dark underground mine tunnels. This kind of environments pose multiple challenges including lack of…
An efficient characterization of scientifically significant locations is essential prior to the return of humans to the Moon. The highest resolution imagery acquired from orbit of south-polar shadowed regions and other relevant locations…
Localization is paramount for autonomous robots. While camera and LiDAR-based approaches have been extensively investigated, they are affected by adverse illumination and weather conditions. Therefore, radar sensors have recently gained…
Accurate localisation in planetary robotics enables the advanced autonomy required to support the increased scale and scope of future missions. The successes of the Ingenuity helicopter and multiple planetary orbiters lay the groundwork for…
The discovery of ice deposits in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar North and South Pole Moon presents an important opportunity for In-Situ Resource Utilization. These ice deposits maybe the source for sustaining a lunar base or…
We introduce a new real-time pipeline for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) in the context of planetary rovers. We leverage prior information of the location of the lander to propose an…
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) in large-scale, unknown, and complex subterranean environments is a challenging problem. Sensors must operate in off-nominal conditions; uneven and slippery terrains make wheel odometry…
Autonomous exploration of unknown space is an essential component for the deployment of mobile robots in the real world. Safe navigation is crucial for all robotics applications and requires accurate and consistent maps of the robot's…
Future Moon bases will likely be constructed using resources mined from the surface of the Moon. The difficulty of maintaining a human workforce on the Moon and communications lag with Earth means that mining will need to be conducted using…
We address the problem of vehicle self-localization from multi-modal sensor information and a reference map. The map is generated off-line by extracting landmarks from the vehicle's field of view, while the measurements are collected…
Robotics plays a pivotal role in planetary science and exploration, where autonomous and reliable systems are crucial due to the risks and challenges inherent to space environments. The establishment of permanent lunar bases demands robotic…
In recent years, prior maps have become a mainstream tool in autonomous navigation. However, commonly available prior maps are still tailored to control-and-decision tasks, and the use of these maps for localization remains largely…