Thermal vision,moisture content,and vegetation in the context of off-road mobile robots |
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| Institution: | 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg. 35, 02139 Cambridge, MA, USA;2. University of Almería, Research Centre CIAIMBITAL, Ctra. Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain;1. Technische Universität München, Arcisstrasse 21, 80290 München, Germany;2. RWTH Aachen University, Mathieustrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany;3. University of Minnesota, 100 Church Street S.E., 55455 Minneapolis, MN, USA;1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg. 35, 02139 Cambridge, MA, USA;2. US Army RDECOM TARDEC, 6501 E. 11 Mile Road, MS 157, Bldg. 215, 48397-5000 Warren, MI, USA;1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg. 35, 02139 Cambridge, MA, USA;2. US Army RDECOM TARDEC, 6501 E. 11 Mile Road, MS 157, Bldg. 215, 48397-5000 Warren, MI, USA;1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA;2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA |
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| Abstract: | This paper describes an initial investigation that shows the major impact that moisture and vegetation produce on a soil and how that effect may be measured using a thermal camera. In particular, those two variables influence how the soil compacts and, hence, the traversability of a vehicle. A broad set of experiments, under different weather conditions and with different soils, demonstrate that thermal properties derived from the thermal camera (i.e. thermal inertia) increase when moisture content of sandy soils increases. In addition to that, a relation is observed between thermal inertia and traversability (lower thermal inertia, worse traction; and vice versa). Another key behavior is noticed for vegetated soils, where a similar thermal inertia to wet sand is obtained but with only a third of moisture content. These results may be considered for maximizing traversability over sandy soils with higher thermal inertias, what eventually means higher compaction and safer routes. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work addressing the correlation between moisture content and vegetation, and the thermal properties of a soil using a light-weight thermal camera that can be mounted on a mobile robot. |
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| Keywords: | Terrain traversability Terrain characterization Non-geometric hazards Thermal inertia Moisture meter Temperature probe |
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