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Micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) are strongly limited in their payload and power capacity. In order to implement autonomous navigation, algorithms are therefore desirable that use sensory equipment that is as small, low-weight, and low-power…
This article addresses the challenge of vision-based proximity navigation in asteroid exploration missions and on-orbit servicing. Traditional feature extraction methods struggle with the significant appearance variations of asteroids due…
In the maritime sector, safe vessel navigation is of great importance, particularly in congested harbors and waterways. The focus of this work is to estimate the distance between an object of interest and potential obstacles using a…
In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used for numerous inspection and video capture tasks. Manually controlling UAVs in the vicinity of obstacles is challenging, however, and poses a high risk of collisions. Even for…
Accurate localization of maritime targets by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) remains challenging in GPS-denied environments. UAVs equipped with gimballed electro-optical sensors are typically used to localize targets, however, reliance on…
Efficient ObjectGoal navigation (ObjectNav) in novel environments requires an understanding of the spatial and semantic regularities in environment layouts. In this work, we present a straightforward method for learning these regularities…
During retinal microsurgery, precise manipulation of the delicate retinal tissue is required for positive surgical outcome. However, accurate manipulation and navigation of surgical tools remain difficult due to a constrained workspace and…
Autonomous exploration in unknown environments typically relies on onboard state estimation for localisation and mapping. Existing exploration methods primarily maximise coverage efficiency, but often overlook that visual-inertial odometry…
Autonomous navigation for nano-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (nano-UAVs) is governed by extreme Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) constraints (with the weight < 50 g and sub-100 mW onboard processor), distinguishing it fundamentally from…
We present in this paper a numerical method which computes the optimal trajectory of a underwater vehicle subject to some mission objectives. The method is applied to a submarine whose goal is to best detect one or several targets, or/and…
We propose a new approach to Bayesian prior probability distributions (priors) that can improve orbital solutions for low-phase-coverage orbits, where data cover less than approximately 40% of an orbit. In instances of low phase coverage…
This paper develops a robust optimization based method to design orbits on which the sensory perception of the desired physical quantities are maximized. It also demonstrates how to incorporate various constraints imposed by many spacecraft…
Interstellar objects (ISOs) are likely representatives of primitive materials invaluable in understanding exoplanetary star systems. Due to their poorly constrained orbits with generally high inclinations and relative velocities, however,…
Recent studies of optimization methods and GNC of spacecraft near small bodies focusing on descent, landing, rendezvous, etc., with key safety constraints such as line-of-sight conic zones and soft landings have shown promising results;…
Humans can robustly follow a visual trajectory defined by a sequence of images (i.e. a video) regardless of substantial changes in the environment or the presence of obstacles. We aim at endowing similar visual navigation capabilities to…
Space robotics applications, such as Active Space Debris Removal (ASDR), require representative testing before launch. A commonly used approach to emulate the microgravity environment in space is air-bearing based platforms on flat-floors,…
This paper proposes a low-level visual navigation algorithm to improve visual localization of a mobile robot. The algorithm, based on artificial potential fields, associates each feature in the current image frame with an attractive or…
Spacecraft relative motion planning is concerned with the design and execution of maneuvers relative to a nominal target. These types of maneuvers are frequently utilized in missions such as rendezvous and docking, satellite inspection and…
Robust evidence suggests that humans explore their environment using a combination of topological landmarks and coarse-grained path integration. This approach relies on identifiable environmental features (topological landmarks) in tandem…
Vision-based navigation of autonomous vehicles primarily depends on the Deep Neural Network (DNN) based systems in which the controller obtains input from sensors/detectors, such as cameras and produces a vehicle control output, such as a…