Terrain assessment and path planning for mobile robots are intrinsically linked. There exists a variety of terrain assessment algorithms and these methods follow the trend of low-fidelity at low-cost and high-fidelity at high-cost. We present a modular path-planning algorithm that uses a hierarchy of terrain-assessment methods, from low-fidelity to high-fidelity. Using the available sensor data, the visible terrain is first assessed with the low-fidelity, low-cost method. The decision to assess a piece of terrain with the high-fidelity, high-cost method is made considering potential path benefits and the cost of assessment. This can be thought of as providing a means to triage large amounts of terrain data. The result is a lower combined cost of the path and terrain assessment that exploits the capabilities of the robot chassis where prudent. We demonstrate a system using one implementation of the technique on a large number of simulated path planning problems in fractal terrain. Additionally, we provide results and system details from an experimental field test carried out on Devon Island, Canada.
Path planning with variable-fidelity terrain assessment
Robotics and Autonomous Systems ; 60 , 9 ; 1135-1148
2012
14 Seiten
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch