6 accepted papers
Visual–Inertial Odometry (VIO) provides smooth, high-rate state estimates and has been widely used for robotic navigation in both terrestrial and planetary applications. However, its performance is typically dependent on the frequency of visual updates, which is a challenge for planetary rovers oper…
The autonomous approach of spacecraft to a small body (comet or asteroid) relies on using all available information at each phase of the approach. This letter presents new algorithms for global shape reconstructions from sparse tracked surface points. These methods leverage estimates from earlier ph
The Axel rappelling rover was designed to enable access to intriguing and important science sites that lie in difficult terrains that are inaccessible to conventional rovers. Extended autonomous rappelling calls for careful control of tether tension, precise management of tether spooling, and some m…
Rovers operating on Mars have been delayed, diverted, and trapped by loose granular materials. Vision-based mobility prediction approaches often fail because hazardous sand is difficult to distinguish from safe sand based on surface appearance alone. Unlike surface appearance, the thermal inertia of…
This paper presents a method for predicting slip using Gaussian process regression. Slip models are learned for visually classified terrain types as a function of terrain geometry. Spatial correlations between terrain properties are leveraged for on-line slip model adaptation. Results show that regr…
The inability of current robotic perception techniques to adequately detect non-geometric terrain hazards is a primary cause of failure for robots operating in natural terrain on Mars, the Moon, and Earth. Classical approaches detect surface appearance but do not measure the underlying mechanical pr…