Software Architecture of an Autonomous Robotic System
bandoned mines pose significant threats to society,yet a large fraction of them lack accurate maps.This article discusses the software architecture ofan autonomous robotic system designed toexplore and map abandoned mines. A new setof software tools is presented, enabling robots to acquire mapsof unprecedented size and accuracy. On 30 May 2003, ourrobot “Groundhog” successfully explored and mapped a maincorridor of the abandoned Mathies mine near Courtney,Pennsylvania. This article also discusses some of the challengesthat arise in the subterranean environments and some the dif-ficulties of building truly autonomous robots.In recent years, the quest to find and explore new, unex-plored terrain has led to the deployment of more and moresophisticated robotic systems, designed to traverse increasinglyremote locations. Robotic systems have successfully exploredvolcanoes [5], searched meteorites in Antarctica [1], [44], tra-versed deserts [3], explored and mapped the sea bed [12], andeven explored other planets [26]. This article presents a robotsystem designed to explore spaces much closer to us: aban-doned underground mines.According to a recent survey [6], “tens of thousands, per-haps even hundreds of thousands, of abandoned mines existtoday in the United States. Not even the U.S. Bureau ofMines knows the exact number, because federal recording ofmining claims was not required until 1976.” Shockingly, weare unaware of the location of many mines; despite the factthat most mines were built just a few generations ago! A