cs.RO Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Astrobiology

A depiction of a tethered ReachBot entering a lava tube via a skylight. ReachBot uses deployable booms as prismatic limbs, allowing the negotiation of sparse anchor points along the cliff and access to scientifically interesting areas such as stratigraphy along underhangs or fractures that would be inaccessible with other robot morphologies. -- cs.RO

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Away Team Droid Tech: Martian Exploration of Lava Tubes (MELT) with ReachBot: Scientific Investigation and Concept of Operations

by Keith CowingJuly 9, 2024July 6, 2024

As natural access points to the subsurface, lava tubes and other caves have become premier targets of planetary missions for astrobiological analyses.

In November 2021, AUV Sentry was deployed in the Gulf of California to detect and map hydrothermal plume structures in the deep ocean. Plumes are composed of a buoyant stem and neutrally-buoyant layer. These plumes are dynamic, subject to tidal advection, diffusion, and turbulent mixing. We infer the spatiotemporal structure of plumes from sparse partial-observations and plan informative trajectories that respect operational constraints of AUV Sentry. Field data are shown on the right from two onboard science point-sensors. The dORP/dt sensor shows areas of reactive water, likely indicating buoyant stem detections. The OBS sensor shows areas of high turbidity, which can persist throughout a plume. Combining these sensor signals, we can infer the plume structure and dynamics. -- cs.RO

Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Status Report

Away Team Droid Tech: Robotic Planning Under Uncertainty in Spatiotemporal Environments in Expeditionary Science

by Keith CowingJuly 8, 2024July 7, 2024

In the expeditionary sciences, spatiotemporally varying environments — hydrothermal plumes, algal blooms, lava flows, or animal migrations — are ubiquitous. Mobile robots are uniquely well-suited to study these dynamic, mesoscale […]

Results of path planning for selected weights on Top: Aristarchus IMP - Bottom: Herodotus Mons -- cs.RO

Analog Studies, Artemis & Lunar Exploration, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Missions & Hardware, Moon, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Away Team Droid Tech: Multi-Objective Global Path Planning for Lunar Exploration With a Quadruped Robot

by Keith CowingJuly 6, 2024July 6, 2024

In unstructured environments the best path is not always the shortest, but needs to consider various objectives like energy efficiency, risk of failure or scientific outcome.

A representative example of fully coordinated rover team trajectories over a full mission scenario -- cs.RO

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Away Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

A Novel Methodology for Autonomous Planetary Exploration Using Multi-Robot Teams

by Keith CowingJune 10, 2024June 10, 2024

One of the fundamental limiting factors in planetary exploration is the autonomous capabilities of planetary exploration rovers.

WayFASTER accumulates a sequence of RGB-D images to predict a wide-view traversability map. -- cs.R

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Status Report

Better Offworld Droid Navigation: nuance: WayFASTER: a Self-Supervised Traversability Prediction for Increased Navigation Awareness

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2024February 14, 2024

Accurate and robust navigation in unstructured environments requires fusing data from multiple sensors. Such fusion ensures that the robot is better aware of its surroundings, including areas of the environment […]