Traversability Analysis and Path Planning for a Planetary Rover

A method of analyzing three-dimensional data such as might be produced by stereo vision or a laser range finder in order to plan a path for a vehicle such as a Mars rover is described. In order to produce robust results from data that is sparse and of varying accuracy, the method takes into account the accuracy of each data point, as represented by its covariance matrix. It computes estimates of smoothed and interpolated height, slope, and roughness at equally spaced horizontal intervals, as well as accuracy estimates of these quantities. From this data, a cost function is computed that takes into account both the distance traveled and the probability that each region is traversable. A parallel search algorithm that finds the path of minimum cost also is described. Examples using real data are presented.     

Autonomous Driving with Concurrent Goals and Multiple Vehicles: Experiments and Mobility Components

In this paper, we describe a complete system for mission planning and execution for multiple robots in natural terrain. We report on experiments with a system for autonomously driving two vehicles based on complex mission specifications. We show that the system is able to plan local paths in obstacle fields based on sensor data, to plan and update global paths to goals based on frequent obstacle map updates, and to modify mission execution, e.g., the assignment and ordering of the goals, based on the updated paths to the goals.Two recently developed sensors are used for obstacle detection: a high-speed laser range finder, and a video-rate stereo system. An updated version of a dynamic path planner, D*, is used for on-line computation of routes. A new mission planning and execution-monitoring tool, GRAMMPS, is used for managing the allocation and ordering of goals between vehicles.We report on experiments conducted in an outdoor test site with two HMMWVs. Implementation details and performance analysis, including failure modes, are described based on a series of twelve experiments, each over 1/2 km distance with up to nine goals.The work reported here includes a number of results not previously published, including the use of a real-time stereo machine and a high-performance laser range finder, and the use of the GRAMMPS planning system.     

Autonomous Driving with Concurrent Goals and Multiple Vehicles: Mission Planning and Architecture

We introduce a new distributed planning paradigm, which permits optimal execution and dynamic replanning of complex multi-goal missions. In particular, the approach permits dynamic allocation of goals to vehicles based on the current environment model while maintaining information-optimal route planning for each individual vehicle to individual goals. Complex missions can be specified by using a grammar in which ordering of goals, priorities, and multiple alternatives can be described. We show that the system is able to plan local paths in obstacle fields based on sensor data, to plan and update global paths to goals based on frequent obstacle map updates, and to modify mission execution, e.g., the assignment and ordering of the goals, based on the updated paths to the goals.The multi-vehicle planning system is based on the GRAMMPS planner; the on-board dynamic route planner is based on the D* planner. Experiments were conducted with stereo and high-speed ladar as the to sensors used for obstacle detection. This paper focuses on the multi-vehicle planner and the systems architecture. A companion paper (Brumitt et al., 2001) analyzes experiments with the multi-vehicle system and describes in details the other components of the system.     

Rough Terrain Autonomous Mobility—Part 1: A Theoretical Analysis of Requirements

A basic requirement of autonomous vehicles is that of guaranteeing the safety of the vehicle by avoiding hazardous situations. This paper analyses this requirement in general terms of real-time response, throughput, and the resolution and accuracy of sensors and computations. Several nondimensional expressions emerge which characterize requirements in canonical form.The automatic generation of dense geometric models for autonomously navigating vehicles is a computationally expensive process. Using first principles, it is possible to quantify the relationship between the raw throughput required of the perception system and the maximum safely achievable speed of the vehicle. We derive several useful expressions for the complexity of terrain mapping perception under various assumptions. All of them can be reduced to polynomials in the response distance.The significant time consumed by geometric perception degrades real-time response characteristics. Using our results, several strategies of active geometric perception arise which are practical for autonomous vehicles and increasingly important at higher speeds.     

Rough Terrain Autonomous Mobility—Part 2: An Active Vision, Predictive Control Approach

Off-road autonomous navigation is one of the most difficult automation challenges from the point of view of constraints on mobility, speed of motion, lack of environmental structure, density of hazards, and typical lack of prior information. This paper describes an autonomous navigation software system for outdoor vehicles which includes perception, mapping, obstacle detection and avoidance, and goal seeking. It has been used on several vehicle testbeds including autonomous HMMWV's and planetary rover prototypes. To date, it has achieved speeds of 15 km/hr and excursions of 15 km.We introduce algorithms for optimal processing and computational stabilization of range imagery for terrain mapping purposes. We formulate the problem of trajectory generation as one of predictive control searching trajectories expressed in command space. We also formulate the problem of goal arbitration in local autonomous mobility as an optimal control problem. We emphasize the modeling of vehicles in state space form. The resulting high fidelity models stabilize coordinated control of a high speed vehicle for both obstacle avoidance and goal seeking purposes. An intermediate predictive control layer is introduced between the typical high-level strategic or artificial intelligence layer and the typical low-level servo control layer. This layer incorporates some deliberation, and some environmental mapping as do deliberative AI planners, yet it also emphasizes the real-time aspects of the problem as do minimalist reactive architectures.     

五轮铰接式月球机器人的运动学建模

本文为在有壕沟、台阶和斜坡的复杂三维地形上行驶的轮式移动机器人提出了一种新的运动学建模方法：切平面拼接法．该方法的主要思想是用机器人在不同时刻不同斜面上的运动学模型组成机器人在崎岖不平地面上行驶的复合运动学模型．该建模方法简单,建模的精确性可以控制．作者用该方法建立了五轮铰接式月球机器人（FWALR）在崎岖不平地面上行驶的正向和逆向运动学模型,为FWALR机器人在复杂三维地形上的运动控制奠定了基础．     

Dyna-Q-based vector direction for path planning problem of autonomous mobile robots in unknown environments

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a popular method for solving the path planning problem of autonomous mobile robots in unknown environments. However, the primary difficulty faced by learning robots using the RL method is that they learn too slowly in obstacle-dense environments. To more efficiently solve the path planning problem of autonomous mobile robots in such environments, this paper presents a novel approach in which the robot’s learning process is divided into two phases. The first one is to accelerate the learning process for obtaining an optimal policy by developing the well-known Dyna-Q algorithm that trains the robot in learning actions for avoiding obstacles when following the vector direction. In this phase, the robot’s position is represented as a uniform grid. At each time step, the robot performs an action to move to one of its eight adjacent cells, so the path obtained from the optimal policy may be longer than the true shortest path. The second one is to train the robot in learning a collision-free smooth path for decreasing the number of the heading changes of the robot. The simulation results show that the proposed approach is efficient for the path planning problem of autonomous mobile robots in unknown environments with dense obstacles.     

室外自主移动机器人AMOR的导航技术

在非结构化环境,移动机器人行驶运动规划和自主导航是非常挑战性的问题。基于实时的动态栅格地图,提出了一个快速的而又实效的轨迹规划算法,实现机器人在室外环境的无碰撞运动导航。AMOR是自主研发的室外运动移动机器人,它在2007年欧洲C-ELROB大赛中赢得了野外自主侦察比赛的冠军。它装备了SICK的激光雷达,用来获取机器人运动前方的障碍物体信息,建立实时动态的环境地图。以A*框架为基础的改造算法,能够在众多的路径中快速地找到最佳的安全行驶路径,实现可靠的自主导航。所有的测试和比赛结果表明所提方案是可行的、有效的。     

基于信息融合的移动机器人定位与路径规划

针对镜面反射引起的声呐测距不准的问题,设计一种加权融合的方法对声呐和摄像头的信息进行融合,使移动机器人能够精确地完成在拐角区域下的自身定位,并给出了机器人的路径规划。通过在先锋3机器人平台上进行的实验结果证明,该方法能够使移动机器人安全、平滑地通过拐角区域。     

The multi-steering N-trailer system: A case study of goursat normal forms and prolongations

In this paper, wheeled mobile robots towing trailers are used as examples of systems which can be converted into extended Goursat normal form. For some configurations of this class of systems, a prolongation of the Pfaffian system is necessary before the Goursat form can be achieved. The advantage of the Goursat form is that once the kinetic constraints are in this normal form, the point-to-point path planning problem can be solved in a straightforward way.     

Robotic vehicles for planetary exploration

Future missions to the moon, Mars, or other planetary surfaces will use planetary rovers for exploration or other tasks. Operation of these rovers as unmanned robotic vehicles with some form of remote or semi-autonomous control is desirable to reduce the cost and increase the capability and safety of many types of missions. However, the long time delays and relatively low bandwidths associated with radio communications between planets precludes a total telepresence approach to controlling the vehicle. A program to develop planetary rover technology has been initiated at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) under sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Developmental systems with the necessary sensing, computing, power, and mobility resources to demonstrate realistic forms of control for various missions have been developed and initial testing has been completed. These testbed systems, the associated navigation techniques currently used and planned for implementation, and long-term mission strategies employing them are described.     

Case-based path planning for autonomous underwater vehicles

Case-based reasoning is reasoning based on specific instances of past experience. A new solution is generated by retrieving and adapting an old one which approximately matches the current situation. In this paper, we outline a case-based reasoning scheme for path planning in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) missions. An annotated map database is employed to model the navigational environment. Routes which are used in earlier missions are represented as objects in the map. When a new route is to be planned, the path planner retrieves a matching route from the database and modifies it to suit to the current situation. Whenever a matching route is not available, a new route is synthesized based on past cases that describe similar navigational environments. Case-based approach is thus used not only to adapt old routes but also to synthesize new ones. Since the proposed scheme is centered around reuse of old routes, it would be fast especially when long routes need to be generated. Moreover, better reliability of paths can be expected as they are adapted from earlier missions. The scheme is novel and appropriate for AUV mission scenarios. In this paper, we describe the representation of navigation environment including past routes and objects in the navigational space. Further, we discuss the retrieval and repair strategies and the scheme for synthesizing new routes. Sample results of both synthesis and reuse of routes and system performance analysis are also presented. One major advantage of this system is the facility to enrich the map database with new routes as they are generated.This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant No. BCS-9017990.     

Deliberative On-Line Local Path Planning for Autonomous Mobile Robots

This paper describes a method for local path planning for mobile robots that combines reactive obstacle avoidance with on-line local path planning. Our approach is different to other model-based navigation approaches since it integrates both global and local planning processes in the same architecture while other methods only combine global path planning with a reactive method to avoid non-modelled obstacles. Our local planning is only triggered when an unexpected obstacle is found and reactive navigation is not able to regain the initial path. A new trajectory is then calculated on-line using only proximity sensor information. This trajectory can be improved during the available time using an anytime algorithm. The proposed method complements the reactive behaviour and allows the robot to navigate safely in a partially known environment during a long time period without human intervention.     

Robust Path Planning for Non-Holonomic Robots

This paper deals with mobile robots path planning. We decompose the problem in three parts. In the first part, we describe a modeling method based on a configuration space discretization. Each model element is built following a particular structure which is easy to handle, as we will show. We describe the methodologies and the algorithms allowing to build the model. In the second part, we propose a path-planning application for a non-holonomic robot in configuration space. In the third part, we modify the path in order to be robust according to the control errors.     

采用改进D*Lite算法的自主移动机器人路径规划

针对动态环境下自主移动机器人的路径规划问题提出了改进D*Lite算法;该算法在D*Lite算法的基础上,引入Bresenham画线算法对扩展节点进行可视检测,得到方向任意且避免不必要转折的预规划路径,并建立分辨率高于全局障碍图的局部障碍图,动态存储传感器实时获取的局部环境信息,充分利用局部环境信息实时重规划机器人当前位置到目标点的最优路径,提高算法的规划精度及对动态环境的适应性;仿真实验结果证明,该算法大大缩短了路径长度,并且具有可行性和实时性.     

单目视觉移动机器人导航算法研究现状及趋势

拥有自主导航能力的移动机器人在救灾、家政等人类生活中使用得愈加广泛.单目视觉导航算法作为机器人视觉导航中的一种,具有成本低、距离不受限的优势,但仍存在尺度不确定性和初始化问题.该综述根据对移动机器人的运动性质研究,主要从障碍检测、空间定位、路径规划三个方面对单目视觉导航技术进行了模块化分析,并以单目视觉导航算法的关键技...