Multi-Rover Testbed for Teleconducted and Autonomous Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Exploration

At Caltech’s and UA's Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory an outdoor multi-rover testbed has been developed that allows for near real-time interactive or automatic control from anywhere in the world via the Internet. It enables the implementation, field-testing, and validation of algorithms/software and strategies for navigation, exploration, feature extraction, anomaly detection, and target prioritization with applications in planetary exploration, security surveillance, reconnaissance of disaster areas, military reconnaissance, and delivery of lethal force such as explosives for urban warfare. Several rover platforms have been developed, enabling testing of cooperative multi-rover scenarios (e.g., inter-rover communication/coordination) and distributed exploration of operational areas.

[Issued patent(s): U.S. 6,990,406, U.S. 7,734,063, and U.S. 7,742,845]

 

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