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“Resilient and Modular Subterranean Exploration with a Team of Roving and Flying Robots” by S. Scherer, V. Agrawal, G. Best, C. Cao, K. Cujic, R. Darnley, R. DeBortoli, E. Dexheimer, B. Drozd, R. Garg, I. Higgins, J. Keller, D. Kohanbash, L. Nogueira, R. Pradhan, M. Tatum, V.K. Viswanathan, S. Willits, S. Zhao, H. Zhu, D. Abad, T. Angert, G. Armstrong, R. Boirum, A. Dongare, M. Dworman, S. Hu, J. Jaekel, R. Ji, A. Lai, Y. Hsuan Lee, A. Luong, J. Mangelson, J. Maier, J. Picard, K. Pluckter, A. Saba, M. Saroya, E. Scheide, N. Shoemaker-Trejo, J. Spisak, J. Teza, F. Yang, A. Wilson, H. Zhang, H. Choset, M. Kaess, A. Rowe, S. Singh, J. Zhang, G.A. Hollinger, and M. Travers. J. of Field Robotics (JFR), vol. 2, May 2022, pp. 678-734.
Subterranean robot exploration is difficult, with many mobility, communications, and navigation challenges that require an approach with a diverse set of systems, and reliable autonomy. While prior work has demonstrated partial successes in addressing the problem, here we convey a comprehensive approach to address the problem of subterranean exploration in a wide range of tunnel, urban, and cave environments. Our approach is driven by the themes of resiliency and modularity, and we show examples of how these themes influence the design of the different modules. In particular, we detail our approach to artifact detection, pose estimation, coordination, planning, control, and autonomy, and we discuss our performance in the tunnel, urban, and self-organized cave circuits of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. Our approach led to a winning result in the tunnel circuit, and placing second in the urban circuit event. We convey lessons learned in designing and testing a resilient system for subterranean exploration that can generalize to a large range of operating conditions, and potential improvements for the future.
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BibTeX entry:
@article{Scherer22fr,
author = {S. Scherer and V. Agrawal and G. Best and C. Cao and K. Cujic
and R. Darnley and R. DeBortoli and E. Dexheimer and B. Drozd and
R. Garg and I. Higgins and J. Keller and D. Kohanbash and L.
Nogueira and R. Pradhan and M. Tatum and V.K. Viswanathan and S.
Willits and S. Zhao and H. Zhu and D. Abad and T. Angert and G.
Armstrong and R. Boirum and A. Dongare and M. Dworman and S. Hu
and J. Jaekel and R. Ji and A. Lai and Y. Hsuan Lee and A. Luong
and J. Mangelson and J. Maier and J. Picard and K. Pluckter and A.
Saba and M. Saroya and E. Scheide and N. Shoemaker-Trejo and J.
Spisak and J. Teza and F. Yang and A. Wilson and H. Zhang and H.
Choset and M. Kaess and A. Rowe and S. Singh and J. Zhang and G.A.
Hollinger and M. Travers},
title = {Resilient and Modular Subterranean Exploration with a Team of
Roving and Flying Robots},
journal = {J. of Field Robotics (JFR)},
volume = {2},
pages = {678--734},
month = may,
year = {2022}
}