Traversability analysis with vision and terrain probing for safe legged robot navigation.

Inspired by human behavior when traveling over unknown terrain, this study proposes the use of probing strategies and integrates them into a traversability analysis framework to address safe navigation on unknown rough terrain. Our framework integrates collapsibility information into our existing traversability analysis, as vision and geometric information alone could be misled by unpredictable non-rigid terrains such as soft soil, bush area, or water puddles. With the new traversability analysis framework, our robot has a more comprehensive assessment of unpredictable terrain, which is critical for its safety in outdoor environments.