Abstract
We present a new terrain classification technique both for effective, autonomous locomotion over rough, unknown terrains and for the qualitative analysis of terrains for exploration and mapping. Our approach requires a single camera with little processing of visual information. Specifically, we derived a gait bounce measure from visual servoing errors that results from vehicle-terrain interactions during normal locomotion. Characteristics of the terrain, such as roughness and compliance, manifest themselves in the spatial patterns of this signal and can be extracted using pattern classification techniques. This vision-based approach is particularly beneficial for resource-constrained robots with limited sensor capability. In this paper, we present the gait bounce derivation. We demonstrate the viability of terrain classification for legged vehicles using gait bounce with a rigorous study of more than 700 trials, obtaining an 83% accuracy on a set of laboratory terrains. We describe how terrain classification may be used for gait adaptation, particularly in relation to an efficiency metric. We also demonstrate that our technique may be generally applicable to other locomotion mechanisms such as wheels and treads.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bekker, G. 1969. Introduction to Terrain-Vehicle Systems. University of Michigan Press.
Cham, J., Karpick, J., and Cutkosky, M. 2004. Stride period adaptation for a biomimetic running hexapod. Int’l Journal of Robotics Research, 23(2):141–153.
Demir, G., Voyles, R., and Larson, A. 2004. Motion estimation with cooperatively working multiple robots. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, page to appear.
Duda, R., Hart, P., and Stork, D. 2001. Pattern Classification, 2nd edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Espenschied, K.S., Quinn, R.D., Beer, R.D., and Chiel, H.J. 1996. Biologically based distributed control and local reflexes improve rough terrain locomotion in a hexapod robot. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 18(1/2):59–64.
Gennery, D. 1999. Traversability analysis and path planning for a planetary rover. Autonomous Robots, 6:131–146.
Hirose, S. 1984. A study of design and control of a quadruped walking vehicle. Int’l Journal of Robotics Research, 3:113–133.
Huber, D., Denes, L., Hebert, M., Gottlieb, M., Kaminsky, B., and Metes, P. 1998. A spectro-polarimetric imager for intelligent transportation systems. In Proc. of SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 3207, pp. 94–102.
Iagnemma, K., Rzepniewski, A., Dubowsky, S., and Schenker, P. 2003. Control of robotic vehicles with actively articulated suspensions in rough terrain. Autonomous Robots, 14(1):5–16.
Iagnemma, K., Shibly, H., and Dubowsky, S. 2002. On-line terrain parameter estimation for planetary rovers. In Proc. of the IEEE Int’l Conference on Robotics and Automation, vol 3, pp. 3142–3147.
Kurazume, R., Byong-Won, A., Ohta, K., and Hasegawa, T. 2003. Experimental study on energy efficiency for quadruped walking vehicles. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 613–618.
Kurazume, R., Yoneda, K., and Hirose, S. 2002. Feedforward and feedback dynamic trot gait control for quadruped walking vehicle. Autonomous Robots, 12:157–172.
Langer, D., Rosenblatt, J., and Hebert, M. 1994. A behavior-based system for off-road navigation. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 10(6):776–783.
Larson, A., Voyles, R., and Demir, G. 2004. Terrain classification through weakly-structured vehicle/terrain interaction. In Proc. of the IEEE Int’l Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 218–224.
Lenz, R. and Tsai, R., 1988. Techniques for calibration of the scale factor and image center for high accuracy 3-d machine vision metrology. IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 10(5):713–720.
Lewis, M. and Bekey, G. 2002. Gait adaptation in a quadruped robot. Autonomous Robots, 12:301–312.
Marhefka, D.W. and Orin, D.E. 1997. Gait planning for energy efficiency in walking machines. In Proc. of the IEEE Int’l Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 474–480.
Nelson, B., Papanikolopoulos, N., and Khosla. P. 1993. Visual Servoing—Real-Time Control of Robot Manipulators Based on Visual Sensory Feedback, chapter Visual servoing for robotic assembly, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., pp. 129–164.
Seraji, H. and Howard, A. 2002. Behavior-based robot navigation on challenging terrain: A fuzzy logic approach. IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 18(3):308–321.
Shi, J. and Tomasi, C. 1994. Good features to track. In Proc. IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pp. 21–23.
Simmons, R., Krotkov, E., Chrisman, L., Cozman, F., Goodwin, R., Hebert, M., Katragadda, L., Koenig, S., Krishnaswamy, G., Shinoda, Y., and Whitaker, W. 1995. Experience with rover navigation for lunar-like terrain. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, vol. 1, pp. 441–446.
Talukder, A., Manduchi, R., Castano, R., Owens, K., Matthies, L., Castano, A., and Hogg, R. 2002. Autonomous terrain characterisation and modelling for dynamic control of unmanned vehicles. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp. 708–713.
Voyles, R. and Larson, A. 2005. Terminatorbot: A novel robot with dual-use mechanism for locomotion and manipulation. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, to appear.
Voyles, R., Larson, A., Yesin, K., and Nelson, B. 2001. Using orthogonal visual servoing errors for classifying terrain. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, vol. 2, pp. 772–777.
Weingarten, J., Lopes, G., Buehler, M., Groff, R., and Koditschek, D. 2004. Automated gait adaptation for legged robots. In Proc. of the IEEE Int’l Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 2153–2158.
Wettergreen, D., Pangels, H., and Bares, J. 1995. Behavior-based gait execution for the Dante II walking robot. In Proc. IEEE/RSJ Int’l Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, vol. 3, pp. 274–279.
Willson, R. and Shafer, S. 1994. What is the center of the image? Journal of the Optical Society of America, 11(11):2946–2955.
Yoshida, K. and Hamano, H. 2002. Motion dynamics and control of a planetary rover with slip-based traction model. In Proc. of SPIE—The International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 4715, pp. 275–286.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Larson, A.C., Demir, G.K. & Voyles, R.M. Terrain Classification Using Weakly-Structured Vehicle/Terrain Interaction. Auton Robot 19, 41–52 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-005-0605-5
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-005-0605-5