Simulation tools advance robotic perception for planetary exploration
Simulation for Planetary Robotic Perception and Autonomy: A Concise Survey of Recent Capabilities and Gaps
Robotics
Summary
Sending robots to explore planets is hard and risky because testing them in real conditions is expensive and difficult. The authors looked at recent computer simulations that help researchers build and test these robots without needing to go to space or other planets. Their survey found many simulations support robot vision and movement but often focus on certain types of rovers and miss parts like special sensors or energy limits. They also noted that not all simulation tools are openly available, making it harder for everyone to use the best methods.
What this means in practice
- •For planetary rover developers: Use the survey to select simulation tools that best fit mission scenarios and perception needs for rover system design and testing.
- •For industrial robotics teams: Adapt insights on simulating sensor and operational realism for improving autonomous robot testing in complex, constrained environments.
A survey. It maps existing work.
Authors
Hoyun Kim, Giseop Kim
Abstract
Planetary robotics is an important enabler of scientific exploration in environments where direct human-in-the-loop operation is costly, hazardous, or infeasible. However, developing and validating planetary robotic systems remains difficult because representative field testing is expensive, limited, and often unrepeatable under mission-relevant conditions. In this setting, simulation serves as a central tool for perception and autonomy research, synthetic data generation, system integration, and pre-deployment evaluation. Despite its importance, the literature on planetary robotics simulation remains dispersed across different simulation engines, implementations, and application settings. This paper surveys simulation works for planetary robotic perception and autonomy across four practical axes: Openness and Availability, Scenario and Platform Coverage, Sensor and Perception Support, and Environmental and Operational Realism. The surveyed simulation works report visual or physical fidelity and support perception-oriented workflows. They also indicate uneven public availability, rover-centered coverage, partial support for specialized sensing modalities, and uneven reporting of operational constraints such as onboard computation, energy, and communication restrictions.