Autonomous Teamed Exploration of Subterranean Environments using Legged and Aerial Robots
ICRA• 2022
Abstract
This paper presents a novel strategy for autonomous teamed exploration of
subterranean environments using legged and aerial robots. Tailored to the fact
that subterranean settings, such as cave networks and underground mines, often
involve complex, large-scale and multi-branched topologies, while wireless
communication within them can be particularly challenging, this work is
structured around the synergy of an onboard exploration path planner that
allows for resilient long-term autonomy, and a multi-robot coordination
framework. The onboard path planner is unified across legged and flying robots
and enables navigation in environments with steep slopes, and diverse
geometries. When a communication link is available, each robot of the team
shares submaps to a centralized location where a multi-robot coordination
framework identifies global frontiers of the exploration space to inform each
system about where it should re-position to best continue its mission. The
strategy is verified through a field deployment inside an underground mine in
Switzerland using a legged and a flying robot collectively exploring for 45
min, as well as a longer simulation study with three systems.