9 accepted papers
To achieve longer driving distances, planetary robotics missions require accurate localization to counteract position uncertainty. Freedom and precision in driving allows scientists to reach and study sites of interest. Typically, rover global localization has been performed manually by humans, whic…
The discovery of ocean worlds such as Enceladus, Titan, and Europa motivates the development of versatile autonomous mobility systems to enable the next era of space exploration where there is large uncertainty in terrain specifications due to a lack of prior surface reconnaissance missions. To expl…
The Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) is a snake-like mobile instruments platform under development at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for a mission concept to find evidence of life on Saturn's sixth largest moon, Enceladus. To conduct a life surveying mission there, the EELS platform must firs…
Due to their resilience to motion blur and high robustness in low-light and high dynamic range conditions, event cameras are poised to become enabling sensors for vision-based exploration on future Mars helicopter missions. However, existing event-based visual-inertial odometry (VIO) algorithms eith
Authors Benjamin Morrell, Kamak Ebadi, Jeremy Nash and Aliakbar Agha-mohammadi in the above-named work [ibid., IEEE Robot. Automat. Lett., vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 421–428, Apr. 2020] were incorrectly affiliated with the Polytechnic University of Bari. The correct authors affiliations are reported in the
A reliable odometry source is a prerequisite to enable complex autonomy behaviour in next-generation robots operating in extreme environments. In this work, we present a high-precision lidar odometry system to achieve robust and real-time operation under challenging perceptual conditions. LOCUS (Lid
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is a critical part of robotic exploration in unknown environments. SLAM over large scales typically presents challenges with limiting drift and requires loop closures to correct accumulated errors. However, real-time loop closure detection can be limited
Glacial science could benefit tremendously from autonomous robots, but previous glacial robots have had perception issues in these colorless and featureless environments, specifically with visual feature extraction. This translates to failures in visual odometry and visual navigation. Glaciologists
This paper introduces a new four-limbed robot, LEMUR 3, that has demonstrated climbing on cliff faces and smooth glass. Each limb on the robot consists of seven identical actuators in a serial chain. Each limb terminates in a single axis force sensor that allows various end effectors to be mounted a…