Predictable mobility

In this article, a statistical method for mobility prediction that incorporates terrain uncertainty is presented. Mobile robotics has been performing a significant role in scientific lunar/planetary surface exploration missions [1]. In such missions, mobile robots are required to predict their mobility to avoid hazards such as immobilizing wheel slip on loose sand or collision with obstacles. This mobility prediction problem is thus important to the successful exploration on challenging terrain. Of particular interest is mobility prediction on sloped terrain, since travel on slopes can cause extreme longitudinal and lateral slips.