Terrain trafficability characterization with a mobile robot

Lauro Ojeda; Johann Borenstein; Gary Witus

doi:10.1117/12.601499

27 May 2005 Terrain trafficability characterization with a mobile robot

Lauro Ojeda, Johann Borenstein, Gary Witus

Proceedings Volume 5804, Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology VII; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.601499
Event: Defense and Security, 2005, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Most research on off-road mobile robot sensing focuses on obstacle negotiation, path planning, and position estimation. These issues have conventionally been the foremost factors limiting the performance and speeds of mobile robots. Very little attention has been paid to date to the issue of terrain trafficability, that is, the terrain's ability to support vehicular traffic. Yet, trafficability is of great importance if mobile robots are to reach speeds that human-driven vehicles can reach on rugged terrain. For example, it is obvious that the maximal allowable speed for a turn is lower when driving over sand or wet grass than when driving on packed dirt or asphalt. This paper presents our work on automated real-time characterization of terrain with regard to trafficability for small mobile robots. The two proposed methods can be implemented on skid-steer mobile robots and possibly also on tracked mobile robots. The paper also presents experimental results for each of the two implemented methods.

Citation Download Citation

Lauro Ojeda, Johann Borenstein, and Gary Witus "Terrain trafficability characterization with a mobile robot", Proc. SPIE 5804, Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology VII, (27 May 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.601499

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available