Results in Terrain Mapping for a Walking Planetary Rover

Abstract

We present results from a tarain mapping system for walking robots that constructs quantitative models of surface geometry. The accuracy of the constructed maps enables safe, power-efficient locomotion over the natural, rugged terrain found on planetary surfaces. The mapping system acquires range images with a laser rangefinder, preprocesses and stores the images, and constructs elevation maps from them at arbitrary resolutions, in arbitrary reference frames. The system is one of the few that can handle extremely rugged terrain, and is more robust than any comparable system in its aggressive detection of image-based errors and in its compensation for time-varying errors. Extensive tests in natural, rugged terrain producing hundreds of millions of map points indicate that the mapping system (i) exceeds established performance standards in accuracy, timing, and memory utilization, and (ii) exhibits a high degree of real-world robustness.