Sensor-fused autonomous guidance of a mobile robot and applications to Mars Sample Return operations

Generally, there are multiple sensor suites on existing rover platforms such as NASA's Sample Return Rover (SRR) and the Field Integrated Design and Operations (FIDO) rover at JPL. Traditionally, these sensor suites have been used in isolation for such tasks as planetary surface traversal. For example, although distant obstacle information is known from the narrow FOV navigation camera (NAVCAM) suite on SRR or FIDO, it is not explicitly used at this time for augmentation of the wide FOV hazard camera (HAZCAM) information for obstacle avoidance. This paper describes the development of advanced rover navigation techniques. These techniques include an algorithm for the generation of range maps using the fusion of information from the NAVCAMs and HAZCAMs, and an algorithm for registering range maps to an a priori model-based range map for relative rover position and orientation determination. Experimental results for each of these techniques are documented in this paper.