DARPA Subterranean Challenge: Multi-robotic Exploration of Underground Environments

The Subterranean Challenge (SubT) is a contest organised by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The contest reflects the requirement of increasing safety and efficiency of underground search-and-rescue missions. In the SubT challenge, teams of mobile robots have to detect, localise and report positions of specific objects in an underground environment. This paper provides a description of the multi-robot heterogeneous exploration system of our CTU-CRAS team, which scored third place in the Tunnel Circuit round, surpassing the performance of all other non-DARPA-funded competitors. In addition to the description of the platforms, algorithms and strategies used, we also discuss the lessons-learned by participating at such contest.