Planetary exploration by a mobile robot: Mission teleprogramming and autonomous navigation

Sending mobile robots to accomplish planet exploration missions is scientiically promising and technologically challenging. We present in this paper a complete approach that encompasses the major aspects involved in the design of a robotic system for planetary exploration. It includes mission telepro-gramming and supervision at a ground station, and autonomous mission execution by the remote mobile robot. We have partially implemented and validated these concepts. Experimental results illustrate the approach and the results.