A Fast and Optimal Learning-based Path Planning Method for Planetary Rovers

Intelligent autonomous path planning is crucial to improve the exploration efficiency of planetary rovers. In this paper, we propose a learning-based method to quickly search for optimal paths in an elevation map, which is called NNPP. The NNPP model learns semantic information about start and goal locations, as well as map representations, from numerous pre-annotated optimal path demonstrations, and produces a probabilistic distribution over each pixel representing the likelihood of it belonging to an optimal path on the map. More specifically, the paper computes the traversal cost for each grid cell from the slope, roughness and elevation difference obtained from the DEM. Subsequently, the start and goal locations are encoded using a Gaussian distribution and different location encoding parameters are analyzed for their effect on model performance. After training, the NNPP model is able to perform path planning on novel maps. Experiments show that the guidance field generated by the NNPP model can significantly reduce the search time for optimal paths under the same hardware conditions, and the advantage of NNPP increases with the scale of the map.

Prototype Design and Efficiency Analysis of a Novel Robot Drive Based on 3K-H-V Topology

Robot actuators directly affect the performance of robots, and robot drives directly affect the performance of robot actuators. With the development of robotics, robots have put higher requirements on robot drives, such as high stiffness, high accuracy, high loading, high efficiency, low backlash, compact size, and hollow structure. In order to meet the demand development of robot actuators, this research base proposes a new robot drive based on 3K-H-V topology using involute and cycloidal gear shapes, planetary cycloidal drive, from the perspective of drive topology and through the design idea of decoupling. In this study, the reduction ratio and the efficiency model of the 3K-H-V topology were analyzed, and a prototype planetary cycloidal actuator was designed. The feasibility of the drive is initially verified by experimentally concluding that the PCA has a hollow structure, compact size, and high torque density (69 kg/Nm).