Fast cross-country navigation on fair terrains

The cross-country navigation approach presented in this paper relies on two simplification ideas: obstacles are defected by scanning columns of a range image and motion steps are single straight-line trajectories. The resulting system is fast and only prohibits steep slopes or cluttered terrains. It also features a sophisticated planning criterion that yields good global performances. Its reliability has been demonstrated by successful outdoor traverses 70 meters long on a representative test site.