Knowledge of the physical properties of terrain surrounding a planetary exploration rover can be used to allow a rover system to fully exploit its mobility capabilities. Terrain classification methods provide semantic descriptions of the physical nature of a given terrain region. These descriptions can be associated with nominal numerical physical parameters, and/or nominal traversability estim...

A wheeled ground robot was designed and built for better understanding of the challenges involved in utilization of accelerometerbased intelligent tires for mobility improvements. Since robot traction forces depend on the surface type and the friction associated with the tire-road interaction, the measured acceleration signals were used for terrain classification and surface characterization. T...

For future planetary exploration missions, improvements in autonomous rover mobility have the potential to increase scientific data return by providing safe access to geologically interesting sites that lie in rugged terrain, far from landing areas. This thesis presents an algorithmic framework designed to improve rover-based terrain sensing, a critical component of any autonomous mobility syst...

This paper presents a rule-based Fuzzy Traversability Index that quantifies the ease-of-traversal of a terrain by a mobile robot based on real-time measurements of terrain characteristics retrieved from imagery data. These characteristics include, but are not limited to: slope, roughness, hardness, and discontinuity. The proposed representation of terrain traversability incorporates an intuitiv...

This paper presents a novel attempt to combine a downward-looking camera and a forward-looking camera for terrain classification in the field of off-road mobile robots. The first camera is employed to identify the terrain beneath the robot. This information is then used to improve the classification of the forthcoming terrain acquired from the frontal camera. This research also shows the useful...

We present a new terrain classification technique both for effective, autonomous locomotion over rough, unknown terrains and for the qualitative analysis of terrains for exploration and mapping. Our approach requires a single camera with little processing of visual information. Specifically, we derived a gait bounce measure from visual servoing errors that results from vehicle-terrain interacti...

Terrain classification allows a mobile robot to create an annotated map of its local environment from the three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) datasets collected by its array of sensors, including a GPS receiver, gyroscope, video camera, and range sensor. However, parts of objects that are outside the measurement range of the range sensor will not be detected. To overcome this proble...

Autonomous robot navigation in unknown natural terrain is the key requirement of a robotic system such as a rover as the natural terrain is unpredictable. For safe and robust navigation a robot must possess onboard intelligence to perceive the terrain ahead so that it can avoid hazardous areas by discriminating the navigable regions for traversal thereby optimizing its speed and increasing its ...

Many autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) missions, such as those related to agricultural applications, search and rescue, or reconnaissance and surveillance, require the vehicle to operate in difficult outdoor terrains such as sand, mud, or snow. To ensure the safety and performance of AGVs on these terrains, a terrain-dependent driving and control system can be implemented. A key first step in imp...

Terraces are typical artificial landforms on the Loess Plateau, with ecological functions in water and soil conservation, agricultural production, and biodiversity. Recording the spatial distribution of terraces is the basis of monitoring their extent and understanding their ecological effects. The current terrace extraction method mainly relies on high-resolution imagery, but its accuracy is l...