Performance measurement outcomes from planetary surface exploration robots

Abstract

Current space exploration faces the challenge of extreme planetary surface conditions. This can foster terrestrial technologies such as Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) for use in extra-terrestrial missions. However, the readiness of the terrestrial robotics technology to face the space challenges is difficult to establish mainly due to the lack of consensus on how to evaluate its maturity. One of the initiatives to address the above robotics benchmarking issue is the German SpaceBot Cup. The SpaceBot Cup trial scenario entails an exploration mission carried out on a planetary surface. This paper presents robot performance results from the SpaceBot Cup 2015 edition, named the SpaceBot Camp. The competition outcome comes from applying a benchmarking methodology to UGVs carrying out mission tasks in the above scenario. The benchmarking-assessment criteria and metrics are represented by tables based on the characteristics of the environmental conditions regarding the environment and terrain, platform autonomy, and performance of robot mission tasks. This paper also discusses findings and lessons learned from previous SpaceBot Cups that allow for critical analysis regarding robot-team weakness and problems faced by the competitors. This facilitates improvements for robot development and competition management in the future. Concluding remarks, and further work toward the next SpaceBot Cup are also presented.