Locomotion System-Independent, Portable Software Platform for Autonomous Rovers Navigation

Autonomous navigation is a crucial feature of a rover driving on another planet like Mars due to communication latency at interplanetary distances. It significantly improves the daily traverse and can help rover drivers and engineers free the rover from hazards. Unknown areas can be explored with various locomotion techniques: wheeled rovers are the most common, but legged or crawling robots could represent a valid alternative. However, this might involve a lengthy and laborious design process of the onboard navigation software architecture, as it must be tailored to the chosen locomotion system. This paper presents a modular and adaptive method independent of the robot size and locomotion system, simplifying free field exploration and avoiding hazards along the traverse. Keywords: Abstraction, Adaptive, Autonomous Navigation, Finite State Machine, Locomotion, Navigation, Portability