Autonomous exploration and mapping of abandoned mines

Author

Thrun, Sebastian ; Thayer, Scott ; Whittaker, Warren ; Baker, Christopher ; Burgard, Wolfram ; Ferguson, David ; Hähnel, Dirk ; Montemerlo, Michael ; Morris, Aaron ; Omohundro, Zachary ; Reverte, Charlie ; Whittaker W

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Stanford Univ., CA, USA

Volume

11

Issue

4

fYear

2004

Firstpage

79

Lastpage

91

Abstract

This article discusses the software architecture of an autonomous robotic system designed to explore and map abandoned mines. A new set of software tools is presented, enabling robots to acquire maps of unprecedented size and accuracy. On 30 May 2003, the robot "Groundhog" successfully explored and mapped a main corridor of the abandoned Mathies mine near Courtney, Pennsylvania. This article also discusses some of the challenges that arise in the subterranean environments and some the difficulties of building truly autonomous robots.

Keywords

landmine detection; mobile robots; software architecture; Groundhog robot; abandoned underground mines; autonomous robotic system; chassis; configuration space representation; data association; mobile robots; simultaneous localization and mapping; software architecture; subterranean environment; Accidents; Gas detectors; Gas lasers; Land vehicles; Remotely operated vehicles; Robotics and automation; Robots; Testing; Two dimensional displays; Volume measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Robotics & Automation Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1070-9932

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MRA.2004.1371614

Filename

1371614