Scout-Rover cooperation: online terrain strength mapping and traversal risk estimation for planetary-analog explorations
🤖 AI Summary
This study addresses the challenge of limited mobility for wheeled rovers in loose, deformable regolith environments such as Martian dunes and lunar craters, which severely restricts scientific exploration. To overcome this, the authors propose a cooperative navigation framework integrating a legged scout robot with a wheeled rover. The legged robot leverages proprioceptive sensing to estimate regolith mechanical properties in real time, constructs a high-resolution terrain strength map, and performs risk assessment using the rover’s mobility model to enable safe path planning. This work presents the first implementation of online terrain strength mapping based on legged-robot proprioception, validated through field experiments at NASA Ames’ lunar regolith simulant facility and White Sands dune fields. The approach successfully predicts locomotion failure modes and significantly expands accessible terrain for exploration in deformable environments.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Robot-aided exploration of planetary surfaces is essential for understanding geologic processes, yet many scientifically valuable regions, such as Martian dunes and lunar craters, remain hazardous due to loose, deformable regolith. We present a scout-rover cooperation framework that expands safe access to such terrain using a hybrid team of legged and wheeled robots. In our approach, a high-mobility legged robot serves as a mobile scout, using proprioceptive leg-terrain interactions to estimate regolith strength during locomotion and construct spatially resolved terrain maps. These maps are integrated with rover locomotion models to estimate traversal risk and inform path planning.
We validate the framework through analogue missions at the NASA Ames Lunar Simulant Testbed and the White Sands Dune Field. Experiments demonstrate (1) online terrain strength mapping from legged locomotion and (2) rover-specific traversal-risk estimation enabling safe navigation to scientific targets. Results show that scout-generated terrain maps reliably capture spatial variability and predict mobility failure modes, allowing risk-aware path planning that avoids hazardous regions. By combining embodied terrain sensing with heterogeneous rover cooperation, this framework enhances operational robustness and expands the reachable science workspace in deformable planetary environments.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
planetary exploration
terrain strength
traversal risk
regolith
robotic mobility
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
scout-rover cooperation
terrain strength mapping
traversal risk estimation
legged locomotion
heterogeneous robotic teams
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