Publication

An Addendum to NeBula: Towards Extending TEAM CoSTAR’s Solution to Larger Scale Environments

Journal Article (2024)

Journal

IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics

Doc link

http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TFR.2024.3430891

File

Download the digital copy of the doc pdf document

Authors

  • Agha, Ali

  • Otsu, Kyohei

  • Morrell, Benjamin

  • Fan, David

  • Kim, Sung-Kyun

  • Ginting, Muhammad Fadhil

  • Lei, Xianmei

  • Edlund, Jeffrey

  • Fakoorian, Seyed

  • Bouman, Amanda

  • Chavez, Fernando

  • Kim, Taeyeon

  • Correa, Gustavo J.

  • Saboia Da Silva, Maira

  • Santamaria Navarro, Angel

  • et al,

Projects associated

Abstract

This paper presents an appendix to the original NeBula autonomy solution [Agha et al., 2021] developed by the TEAM CoSTAR (Collaborative SubTerranean Autonomous Robots), participating in the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. Specifically, this paper presents extensions to NeBula’s hardware, software, and algorithmic components that focus on increasing the range and scale of the exploration environment. From the algorithmic perspective, we discuss the following extensions to the original NeBula framework: (i) large-scale geometric and semantic environment mapping; (ii) an adaptive positioning system; (iii) probabilistic traversability analysis and local planning; (iv) large-scale POMDPbased global motion planning and exploration behavior; (v) large-scale networking and decentralized reasoning; (vi) communication-aware mission planning; and (vii) multi-modal ground-aerial exploration solutions. We demonstrate the application and deployment of the presented systems and solutions in various large-scale underground environments, including limestone mine exploration scenarios as well as deployment in the DARPA Subterranean challenge.

Categories

mobile robots, multi-robot systems.

Scientific reference

A. Agha, K. Otsu, B. Morrell, D. Fan, S. Kim, M.F. Ginting, X. Lei, J. Edlund, S. Fakoorian, A. Bouman, F. Chavez, T. Kim, G.J. Correa, M. Saboia Da Silva, A. Santamaria-Navarro and . et al. An Addendum to NeBula: Towards Extending TEAM CoSTAR’s Solution to Larger Scale Environments. IEEE Transactions on Field Robotics, 2024, to appear.