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A Robust Approach to High-Speed Navigation for Unrehearsed Desert Terrain
C. Urmson, J. Anhalt, D. Bartz, M. Clark, T. Galatali, A. Gutierrez, S. Harbaugh, J. Johnston, H. Kato, P.L. Koon, W. Messner, N. Miller, A. Mosher, K. Peterson, C. Ragusa, D. Ray, B.K. Smith, J.M. Snider, S. Spiker, J.C. Struble, J. Ziglar, and W.L. Whittaker
Journal of Field Robotics, Vol. 23, No. 8, August, 2006, pp. 467-508.

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This article presents a robust approach to navigating at high speed across desert terrain. A central theme of this approach is the combination of simple ideas and components to build a capable and robust system. A pair of robots were developed, which completed a 212 km Grand Challenge desert race in approximately 7 h. A pathcentric navigation system uses of a combination of LIDAR and RADAR based perception sensors to traverse trails and avoid obstacles at speeds up to 15 m/s. The onboard system leverages a human-based preplanning system to improve reliability and robustness. The robots have been extensively tested, traversing over 3500 km of desert trails prior to completing the challenge. This article describes the mechanisms, algorithms, and testing methods used to achieve this performance.

Associated center: FRC
Associated project: Autonomous Ground Vehicle Design

Number of pages: 41

C. Urmson, J. Anhalt, D. Bartz, M. Clark, T. Galatali, A. Gutierrez, S. Harbaugh, J. Johnston, H. Kato, P.L. Koon, W. Messner, N. Miller, A. Mosher, K. Peterson, C. Ragusa, D. Ray, B.K. Smith, J.M. Snider, S. Spiker, J.C. Struble, J. Ziglar, and W.L. Whittaker, "A Robust Approach to High-Speed Navigation for Unrehearsed Desert Terrain," Journal of Field Robotics, Vol. 23, No. 8, August, 2006, pp. 467-508.

@article{Urmson_2006_5532,
   author = "Christopher Urmson and Joshua Anhalt and Daniel Bartz and Michael Clark and Tugrul Galatali and Alexander Gutierrez and Sam Harbaugh and Joshua Johnston and Hiroki Kato and Phillip L Koon and William Messner and Nick Miller and Aaron Mosher and Kevin Peterson and Charlie Ragusa and David Ray and Bryon K Smith and Jarrod M Snider and Spencer Spiker and Joshua C Struble and Jason Ziglar and William Red L. Whittaker",
   title = "A Robust Approach to High-Speed Navigation for Unrehearsed Desert Terrain",
   journal = "Journal of Field Robotics",
   month = "August",
   year = "2006",
   volume = "23",
   number = "8",
   pages = "467-508"
}