This article surveys recent progress and discusses future opportunities for simultaneous
localization and mapping (SLAM) in extreme underground environments. SLAM in …

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Subterranean Challenge
represented a multiyear (2018–2021), competition-based initiative to inspire and shape the …

Search and rescue with a team of heterogeneous mobile robots in unknown and large-scale
underground environments requires high-precision localization and mapping. This crucial …

This paper reports on the state of the art in underground SLAM by discussing different SLAM
strategies and results across six teams that participated in the three-year-long SubT …

Subterranean openings, including mines, present a unique and challenging environment for
robots and autonomous exploration systems. Autonomous robots that are created today will …

Confined and subterranean areas are common in many civilian and industrial sites,
although they are hazardous for humans given the presence of noxious gases, extreme …

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a reactive planning system for bipedal robots
on unexplored, challenging terrain. The system includes: a multilayer local map for …

This paper presents a novel approach for autonomous cooperating UAVs in search and
rescue operations in subterranean domains with complex topology. The proposed system …

Communication is an important capability for multi-robot exploration because (1) inter-robot
communication (comms) improves coverage efficiency and (2) robot-to-base comms …

This paper presents a state-of-the-art tethered unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV) for structural
integrity assessment of underground stone mine pillars. The TUAV, powered by its tether …