Rover Technology - Rover Technology research in MTP is developing new capabilites for autonomous planetary surface exploration, including long-range traverse, science target approach and instrument placement, and onboard science data processing. Core technical capabiilities that are being expanded under current funding include: proximal, regional, and global navigation; terrain classification; position estimation using visual and inertial methods; manipulation planning and control; and onboard contingent planning and execution. In addition, novel mechanical systems for mobility and sampling are being developed to aid these objectives, and field tests are being performed to exercise technology and expand the envelope of mission concepts.

Software products from all research are required to be delivered into the MTP software infrastructure named "CLARAty". Complementary integration and validation efforts are conducted under the MTP Focused Technology Program to infuse these technologies into future missions. Target missions are MSL where technology components are most mature, or Scout missions, MSR, and AFL, otherwise.

Point of Contact: Paul Schenker

Publications

A Sample Caching Concept for Planetary Missions    Paul Backes, 2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference    Author: Paul Backes

Approaches for Heuristically Biasing RRT Growth    Proc. Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2003), October, 2003    Authors: C. Urmson and R. Simmons

CLARAty: Challenges and Steps Toward Reusable Robotic Software    International Journal of Advanced Robotics, July 2005 (Submitted)    Authors: I.A. Nesnas, R. Simmons, D. Gaines, C. Kunz, A. Diaz-Calderon, T. Estlin, R. Madison, J. Guineau, M. McHenry, I. Shu, and D. Apfelbaum

Closed Loop Control for Autonomous Approach and Placement of Science Instruments by Planetary Rovers    IEEE Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems IROS2005, Edmonton, Canada, August 2-6, 2005.    Authors: T. Huntsberger, Y. Cheng, A. Stroupe, and H. Aghazarian

Combined feature based and shape based visual tracker for robot navigation    IEEEAC Paper #1297    Authors: Deans, Kunz, Sargent, Park, Pedersen

Constrained Motion Planning in Discrete State Spaces    Field and Service Robots, October 2005, Port Douglas, Australia    Authors: M. Pitvoraiko and A. Kelly

Current Results from a Rover Science Data Analysis System    Proc. 2005 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 2005    Authors: R. Castano, M. Judd, T. Estlin, R. Anderson, D. Gaines, A. Castano, B. Bornstein, T. Stough and K. Wagstaff

Deployment Experiments for Ballooning on Mars (DEBOM)    AIAA 16th Lighter-Than-Air Systems Technology Conference and Balloon Systems Conference, Arlington, VA, September 26-28, 2005    Author: A. Vinca

Deployment Experiments for Ballooning on Mars (DEBOM)    Master's Thesis, Mechanical Engineering Dept, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, 2005    Author: A. Lemieux

Design and Analysis of a Four Wheeled Planetary Rover    M.S. Thesis, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 2005    Author: M. J. Roman

Distributed Operations for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission with the Science Activity Planner

Dynamically Constrained Motion Planning in Precision State Lattices    International Journal of Robotics Research, to be submitted Dec 2005 (Invited)    Authors: M. Pitvoraiko, A. Kelly and R. Knepper

Efficient Constrained Path Planning via Search in State Lattices    Proc, 8th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation (I-SAIRAS), September 5-9, 2005, Munich, Germany    Authors: M. Pitvoraiko and A. Kelly

Enabling Autonomous Rover Science through Dynamic Planning and Scheduling    Proc. 2005 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 2005    Authors: T. Estlin, D. Gaines, C. Chouinard, F. Fisher, R. Castano, M. Judd, R. Anderson, and I. Nesnas

Extensible Hardware Architecture for Mobile Robots    Proc. International Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2005)    Authors: L. Kobayashi, S.Y. Lee, and E. Park

First Experiment in the Robotic Investigation of Life in the Atacama Desert of Chile    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Barcelona, May 2005.    Authors: D. Wettergreen et al.

Generating Near Minimal Spanning Control Sets for Constrained Motion Planning in Discrete State Spaces    Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2005), Edmonton Alberta, Canada, August 2005    Authors: M. Pitvoraiko and A. Kelly

Global Path Planning on board the Mars Exploration Rovers    Joseph Carsten, 2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference    Author: Joseph Carsten

Increased Mars Rover Autonomy using AI Planning, Scheduling and Execution    Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2007), Rome Italy, April 2007    Authors: T. Estlin, D. Gaines, C. Chouinard, R. Castano, B. Bornstein, M. Judd, and R. C. Anderson

Incremental Bundle Adjustment Techniques Using Networked Overhead and Ground Imagery for Long-Range Autonomous Mars Rover Localization    Proc. International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation (iSAIRAS -2005), Munich, Germany, September 5-8, 2005.    Authors: R. Li, K. Di, J. Wang, S. Agarwal, L. Matthies, A. Howard and R. Willson

Initial Results of Rover Localization and Topographic Mapping for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover Mission    Journal of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 2005 (Accepted)    Authors: Li, Squyres, Arvidson, Bell, Cheng, Crumpler, Des Marais, Di, T.Ely, Golombek, Graat, Grant, Guinn, Johnson, Greeley, Kirk, Maimone, Matthies, Malin, Parker, Sims, Soderblom, Thompson, Wang, Whelley and Xu

Intelligent Rover Decision-Making in Response to Exogenous Events    Proc. Eighth International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation for Space (i-SAIRAS 2005), Munich, Germany, September 2005.    Authors: C. Chouinard, T. Estlin, D. Gaines, and F. Fisher

Learning to Predict Slip for Ground Robots    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2006 (To Appear)    Authors: A. Angelova, L. Matthies, D. Helmick, and P. Perona

Mars Technology Program Rover Workshop    Sunday, 7 March 2004, IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana    Author: Richard Volpe

Mission Planning and Target Tracking for Autonomous Instrument Placement    IEEEAC Paper #1243, Version 2, Updated December 10, 2004    Author: QSS Group, Inc.

Mission-Directed Path Planning for Planetary Rover Exploration    CMU Robotics Institute PhD Dissertation, Technical Robot, CMU-RI-TR-05-20, May 2005    Author: P. Tompkins

Montgolfiere Balloon Missions for Mars and Titan    3rd International Planetary Probe Workshop, Athens, Greece, July 30, 2005 (Presented by James Cutts)    Authors: J. A. Jones, J. A. Cutts, J. L. Hall, J.-J. Wu, D. A. Fairbrother and T. Lachenmeier

Multi-Target Single Cycle Instrument Placement    Workshop Presentation International Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2005)    Authors: M. Bualat, L. Pedersen, D.E. Smith, M. Deans, R. Sargent, C. Kunz, D. Lees and S. Rajagopalan

Onboard Autonomous Rover Science    Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 2007    Authors: R. Castano, T. Estlin, D. Gaines, C. Chouinard, B. Bornstein, R. C. Anderson, M. Burl, D. Thomspon, A. Castano, and M. Judd

Opportunistic Science with A Rover Traverse Science Data Analysis System    International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Automation in Space (i-SAIRAS 2005). Munich, Germany. September 2005    Authors: R. Castano, T. Estlin, D. Gaines, A. Castano, B. Bornstein, R. C. Anderson, M. Judd, T. Stough, and K. Wagstaff

Optimal Rough Terrain Trajectory Generation under General Dynamic Constraints    International Journal of Robotics Research, to be submitted Dec 2005 (Invited)    Authors: T. Howard and A. Kelly

Plan Execution Interchange Language (PLEXIL) for executable plans and command sequences    Proc. International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS 2005)    Authors: A. K. Jonsson et al.

Prototype Development and Testing of the SILVRCLAW Inflatable, Rigidizable Rover Wheel Concept    2006 IEEE Aerospace Conference (Pending)    Authors: G. Mungas, D. Fisher, D. Apostolopoulos, C. Mungas, S. Sheys, M. Wagner, and J. Teza

Robust and Opportunistic Planning for Planetary Exploration    Int’l Joint Conf. Artificial Intelligence Workshop on Planning and Learning in A Priori Unknown or Dynamic Domains, Edinburgh, Scotland, August 2005.    Authors: D. Gaines, T. Estlin, C. Chouinard, F. Fisher, R. Castano, R. C. Anderson, and M. Judd

Rover Localization and Topographic Mapping at the Landing Site of Gusev Crater    Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets, 2005 (Accepted)    Authors: Li, Archinal, Arvidson, Bell, Christensen, Crumpler, Des Marais, Di, Duxbury, Golombek, Grant, Greeley, Guinn, Johnson, Kirk, Maimone, Matthies, Malin, Parker, Sims, Thompson, Squyres, Soderblom

Rover Technology Development and Mission Infusion Beyond MER    IEEEAC Paper #1641, Updated January 23, 2005    Author: Richard Volpe

Second Experiment in the Robotic Investigation of Life in the Atacama Desert of Chile    International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Space, Munich, September 2005.    Authors: D. Wettergreen, N. Cabrol, S. Heys, D. Jonak, D. Pane, M. Smith, J. Teza, P. Tompkins, D. Villa, C. Williams, M. Wagner and W. Whittaker

Semi-autonomous rover operations: A Mars Technology Program Demonstration    Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI, Extended Abstract, No. 1592, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, 2005.    Authors: M. A. Ravine, J. F. Bell III, M. C. Malin and D. P. Miller

SILVRCLAW - An Inflatable, Rigidizable Wheel Technology for Planetary Rover Applications    IEEEAC Paper #1498, Version 6, Updated December 27, 2004    Authors: Greg Mungas and John Boynton

SILVRCLAW III - Advanced Wheel Design and Testing    Christopher Mungas, 2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference    Author: Christopher Mungas

SILVRCLAW- Stowable, Inflatable, Large, Vectran, Rigidizable, Cold-resistant, Lightweight, All-terrain Wheel    2005 IEEE Aerospace Conference, #1498    Authors: G. Mungas and J. Boynton

Slip Compensation for a Mars Rover    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IROS-2005), August 2005    Authors: D.M. Helmick, S.I. Roumeliotis, Y. Cheng, D. Clouse, M. Bajracharya and L. Matthies

Slip-Compensated Path Following for Planetary Exploration Rovers    Advanced Robotics, October, 2006 (To Appear)    Authors: D.M. Helmick, S.I. Roumeliotis, Y. Cheng, D. Clouse, M. Bajracharya and L. Matthies

Software Development and Integration in Robotics    International Journal of Advanced Robotics Systems (Invited)    Author: I. A., Nesnas

Software Engineering in Robotics    IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Barcelona Spain, April 2005 (Invited speaker)    Author: I. A., Nesnas

Surface Imagery Based Mapping and Rover Localization for the 2003 Mars Rover Exploration Mission    Proc. ASPRS Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, March 7-11, 2005 (CD ROM).    Authors: D. Di, F. Xu, J. Wang, X. Niu, C. Serafy, F. Zhou, R. Li and L. Matthies

Survey of Plan Execution Systems    Proc. International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS 2005); Workshop on "Plan Execution: A Reality Check," June 2005    Authors: A. K. Jonsson et al.

Terrain Adaptive Navigation for Mars Rovers    Daniel Helmick, 2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference    Author: Daniel Helmick

Terrain Estimation Methods for Enhanced Autonomous Rover Mobility    Intelligence for Space Robotics, 2006 (To Appear)    Author: K. Iagnemma

Terrain-Adpative Generation of Optimal Continuous Trajectories for Mobile Robots    8th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation (I-SAIRAS), September 5-9, 2005, Munich, Germany    Authors: T. Howard and A. Kelly

The EPEC Algorithm for Vision Guided Manipulation: Analysis and Validation    Matthew DiCicco, 2007 IEEE Aerospace Conference    Author: Matthew DiCicco

The FLEXnav Precision Dead-Reckoning System    IEEE International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems (IJVAS), Special Issue on "Computational Intelligence and Its Applications to Mobile Robots and Autonomous Systems", March 2006    Authors: Lauro Ojeda, Giulio Reina, Daniel Cruz and Johann Borenstein

Towards a Unified Representation of Mechanisms for Robotic Control Software    International Journal of Advanced Robotics, July 2005 (Submitted)    Authors: A. Diaz-Calderon, I.A. Nesnas, W.S. Kim, and H. Nayar

Trajectory Generation on Rough Terrain Considering Actuator Dynamics    Field and Service Robots, October, 2005, Port Douglas, Australia    Authors: T. Howard and A. Kelly

Vibration-based Terrain Classification for Planetary Rovers    IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2006 (To Appear)    Authors: C. Brooks and K. Iagnemma

Visual Wheel Sinkage Measurement for Mobile Robot Mobility Characterization    Autonomous Robots, 2006 (To Appear )    Authors: C. Brooks, S. Dubowsky and K. Iagnemma

Wheel Slippage and Sinkage Detection for Planetary Rovers    IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Vol. II, No. 2, April 2006    Authors: Giulio Reina, Lauro Ojeda, Annalisa Milella, and Johann Borenstein

Wind-Driven Montgolfiere Balloons for Mars    AIAA Aerospace Sciences Conference, Reno, Nevada, January, 2005    Authors: J. A. Jones, D. Fairbrother, A. Lemieus, T. Lachenmeier, and R. Zubrin