ANT, autonomous non-wheeled all-terrain rover, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Kaiserslautern, Saarbruecken, Bremen, Berlin, Germa

Space rovers like #Zhurong or #Perseverance are currently exploring the surface of #Mars. However, the systems are unable to penetrate scientifically interesting places such as craters, caves, or rock crevices. Much more suitable are walking #robots, which can overcome rough terrain thanks to their flexible locomotor system. In the current ANT project, the #DFKI Robotics Innovation Center is working with the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Airbus Defence and Space Ltd (ADS) to develop an #innovative #navigation and motion control system that will enable both four- and six-legged #robots to maneuver safely on complex ground. The project is funded by the European Space Agency (#ESA).

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In the second phase of the ANT project, the hexapod CREX and the quadruped Aliengo are traversing rough terrain to show their terrain adaption capabilities.

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The ANT project develops a navigation and motion control system for future walking systems for planetary exploration. After successful testing on ramps and rubble fields, the challenge of climbing rough inclines such as craters is being tackled. Iterative exploration of unknown targets and omnidirectional path planning generate efficient trajectories for the robots. Dynamic motion control generates motions for the torso and feet to follow the given trajectories while maintaining stability. In addition to blind haptic adaptation to the ground, a high-resolution local map is used for visual foot adaptation to avoid unstable edges and optimize traction.

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The work on the ANT guidance, navigation, and control system for future planetary exploration walking system has finished. The final tests proofed its capabilities on unconsolidated, unstructured, and inclined terrains. The visual foothold adaptation can rely on a high-frequent and drift-free pose estimation and on an up-to-date map. Therefore, contact-information are additionally added to the map to incorporate changed surface structures. In addition, a load bearing assessment can be performed to evaluate the stability of the next foothold before relying on it. This way, a stable recovery from collapse rock formations is possible, which can increase the safety of future legged exploration missions.

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