Automatic extraction of Irregular Network digital terrain models
SIGGRAPH '79 Proceedings of the 6th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques
Toward Reliable Off Road Autonomous Vehicles Operating in Challenging Environments
International Journal of Robotics Research
Terrain Modelling for Planetary Exploration
CRV '07 Proceedings of the Fourth Canadian Conference on Computer and Robot Vision
Path Planning for Planetary Exploration
CRV '08 Proceedings of the 2008 Canadian Conference on Computer and Robot Vision
Winning the DARPA grand challenge with an AI robot
AAAI'06 Proceedings of the 21st national conference on Artificial intelligence - Volume 1
Design and field experimentation of a prototype Lunar prospector
International Journal of Robotics Research
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In this paper we present the approach for autonomous planetary exploration developed at the Canadian Space Agency. The goal of this work is to autonomously navigate to remote locations, well beyond the sensing horizon of the rover, with minimal interaction with a human operator. We employ LIDAR range sensors due to their accuracy, long range and robustness in the harsh lighting conditions of space. Irregular Triangular Meshes (ITMs) are used for representing the environment providing an accurate yet compact spatial representation. In this paper a novel path-planning technique through the ITM is introduced, which guides the rover through flatter terrain and safely away from obstacles. Experiments performed in CSA's Mars emulation terrain that validate our approach are also presented.