Mission reachability for extraterrestrial rovers

A methodology for the mobility evaluation and mission oriented performance assessment of an autonomous mobile robot is developed. The evaluation strategy uses both time and energy based measures resulting in the development of isochronal/isoenergy contours which characterize the expected mobility of the robot over novel terrain using sample trials on patches of land prior to the mission. This work has a basis in the evaluation of a robot for extraterrestrial exploration and demonstrates the feasibility of the evaluation methodology proposed using simulations. Simulation results are reported for two designs of micro-rovers viz. legged and wheeled on a simulated Martian terrain. Future work is discussed in the context of increased complexity due to hardware implementations, better terrain models and statistical simulations all of which are currently under development.