[FRC seminar] Dynamic Tire-Terrain Models for Obstacle Detection

Speaker:
Dean Anderson
Ph.D. Candidate
Robotics Institute

Abstract:
What is an obstacle? In mobile robots, this is a question implicitly addressed by a perception system, but rarely directly studied itself.

As robots achieve higher speeds and venture into rougher terrain, dynamic effects become significant and cost metrics based on quasi-static analysis and heuristics perform sub-optimally.

In this talk, we present a calibrated, fully-dynamic deformable tire model for terrain evaluation. The tire model is based on penetrating volumes and includes both rolling and slipping friction forces. We will also discuss an experimental platform used to calibrate the model and insights gained in studying the effects of vehicle speed, obstacle height and slope on the "lethality" of an obstacle. Lastly, we propose a metric of terrain traversability based on our force model, and compare it to previous perception algorithms.

Speaker Bio:
Dean Anderson is a fourth-year Ph.D. student working with Alonzo Kelly. His research interests include sensors and perception algorithms for outdoor mobile robots, as well as dynamic vehicle modeling for perception and planning purposes.