Autonomous Exploration

Background:

Autonomous robotic systems are essential for exploring unknown or hazardous environments, with applications ranging from planetary missions to search and rescue. A LiDAR-equipped rover using SLAM can map and navigate without GPS, while RRT* ensures efficient path planning in complex terrains. Frontier exploration further enhances autonomy by identifying and moving toward unknown regions, maximizing coverage. This technology can be directed toward military reconnaissance, enabling autonomous surveillance in hostile or GPS-denied areas, reducing risks to personnel while gathering critical intelligence.

Goals and Objectives:

• Week 5: Problem Definition
• Week 6: Preliminary Design
• Week 8: SLAM Development
• Week 10: Exploration Simulation
• Week 3 (Spring): Rover Initialization
• Week 6 (Spring): Environment Deployment
• Week 10 (Spring): Rover Optimization

Team Contacts:

• Team Lead: Griffin Case (gcase@uci.edu)
• Data Processing: Nick Taschner (ntaschne@uci.edu)
• Path Planning: Brandon Feltman (bfeltman@uci.edu)
• Sensor Inputs: Lucas Van Zee (vanzeel@uci.edu
• Motion Controls: Kevin Zheng (yunongz2@uci.edu)

Sponsor Contact:

• Professor Solmaz Kia (solmaz@uci.edu)