Improvment of the outdoor autonomous navigation of the robot Aru using prediction of terrain traversability – Nimble One x ENSTA

Nimble One is designing Aru as a radically different robot, capable of moving through complex environments and adapting to multiple tasks. Through the innovative topology of Aru, Nimble One seeks to solve the limitations of modern ultra-mobile systems at the mechanical level. A presentation with visuals and videos is available on the company's website: nimbleone.io.
Aru has a multitude of locomotion modes that must be chosen appropriately for each situation to take full advantage of its capabilities. The three major variants are walk mode, rover mode and snake mode. Due to its versatility, Aru can also use specific locomotion skills to get out of dangerous situations: when stuck on obstacles or in muddy terrain.

To use Aru in unstructured outdoor environments, Nimble One is working with the U2IS laboratory at ENSTA Paris to optimize Aru's trajectory and mode of movement in an outdoor environment. The aim of such a development is to eventually allow autonomous deployment of mobile robots in chaotic outdoor environments. The targeted deployment uses are civil and defense.

The project launched in collaboration with ENSTA Paris concerns the creation of a supervisor fulfilling the following two objectives
- Predictability of traversability: Analysis of the terrain to associate with each terrain area a traversability index indicating the level of predicted risk associated with traversing the environment with a given mode of locomotion.
- Autonomous navigation: Decision of the optimal trajectory and the mode of locomotion to be used when defining a final navigation plan according to criteria set beforehand (travel time, risks related to traversability, etc.).

The Supervisor which fulfils the two above objectives can be adapted to any robotic architecture capable of at least one of Aru's locomotion modes: walking, rover or snake. The knowledge of the traversability index of a terrain will allow rovers and tracked robot used outdoors to optimize their trajectories to carry out their missions without being blocked by the environment.