Terrain-based Path Planning and Following for an Experimental Mars Rover
Steven Potiris, Anthony Tompkins, Ali Haydar G · 2014
Experimental Mars Rover (EMR)-Mawson is a 6 wheeled rover designed and operated on the Mars Yard of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. The Mars Yard terrain is a physical analogue carefully constructed to simulate the surface of Mars. EMR-Mawson is teleoperated by researchers and students from distant locations. There are times that intended missions need autonomous motion of the rover in difficult terrain. This paper presents the path planning, localisation and control system developed and validated for the rover, and preliminary results of an investigation into terrain-roughnessbased control. Experimental results demonstrate accurate and repeatable control using different control parameters on the most challenging regions of the Mars Yard that include traversing wheel-sized rocks, and steep slopes with loose terrain in a crater.