Perseverance is using its improved AutoNav feature to navigate autonomously to an ancient river bed. It's breaking Martian speed records in the process. - Universe Today by AndyTomaswick
Credit – NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / ASU / University of Arizona
Two major improvements help facilitate that speed increase: better sensors and better self-awareness. Sensors, especially cameras, are a vital component of the AutoNav system. The cameras on Perseverance are so advanced they allow the rover to perform what its navigators call “thinking while driving.” That might sound like a common feature for human drivers , but for Mars rovers, navigating through the rubble-strewn crater while making navigation decisions in real-time is a significant advance.
Self-awareness can help with that, and Perseverance is much better in this department as well. Anyone familiar with the video game concept of a “hitbox” will be familiar with how Martian rovers navigate around obstacles. Curiosity, for example, would avoid any path that was less than 16 m wide. So if two rocks were 15 m apart, the rover would still go around them, despite being able to easily pass through the gap.
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