Onboard Autonomous Rover Science

Abstract

The Onboard Autonomous Science Investigation System (OASIS) was used in the first formal demonstration of closed loop opportunistic detection and reaction during a rover traverse on the FIDO rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In addition to hardware demonstrations, the system has been demonstrated and exercised in simulation using the Rover Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation (ROAMS) planetary rover simulator, A. Jain et al (2003). We discuss several system enhancements including new planning and scheduling capabilities and image prioritization. We also describe the new end-of-traverse capability that includes taking a partial panorama of images, assessing these for targets of interest, and collecting narrow angle images of selected targets. Finally, we present several methods for estimating properties of rocks and provide a comparative assessment. Understanding the relationship of these methods is important to correctly interpret autonomous rock analyses performed during a traverse.