Mobile Robots in Rough Terrain: Estimation, Motion Planning, and Control with Application to Planetary Rovers

by Karl Iagnemma, Steven Dubowsky

This monograph discusses issues related to estimation, control, and motion planning for mobile robots operating in rough terrain, with particular attention to planetary exploration rovers. Rough terrain robotics is becoming increasingly important in space exploration, and industrial applications. However, most current motion planning and control algorithms are not well suited to rough terrain mobility, since they do not consider the physical characteristics of the rover and its environment. Specific addressed topics are: wheel terrain interaction modeling, including terrain parameter estimation and wheel terrain contact angle estimation; rough terrain motion planning; articulated suspension control; and traction control. Simulation and experimental results are presented that show that the desribed algorithms lead to improved mobility for robotic systems in rough terrain.

123 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

About the author

Karl Iagnemma was raised in suburban Detroit and attended the University of Michigan, where he studied mechanical engineering and began writing fiction. He did graduate work in robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and wrote much of his first book, On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction, as a Ph.D. student. His short stories have received numerous awards, including the Paris Review Plimpton Prize, first place in the Playboy college fiction contest, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Massachusetts Cultural Council. His writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Zoetrope, SEED, and NASA's ASK magazine, and been anthologized in the Best American Short Stories, Best American Erotica, and Pushcart Prize collections.

Karl currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and works as a research scientist at M.I.T. He's currently completing a novel about a phrenologist and a politician in 1850's Detroit.