Safeguarding a lunar rover with Wald's sequential probability ratio test

The virtual bumper is a safeguarding mechanism for autonomous and remotely operated robots to conservatively avoid collisions even in the face of sensor uncertainty. In this paper we take a new approach to the virtual bumper system by applying a powerful but rarely examined statistical test. By using a modified version of Wald's sequential probability ratio test, we demonstrate that we can reduce the number of false positives reported by the virtual bumper, thereby saving valuable mission time. We further use the concept of sequential probability ratio to control vehicle speed in the presence of possible obstacles in order to increase certainty about whether or not obstacles are present. With this principled obstacle certainty measure, our new algorithm reduces the chances of collision by approximately 98% relative to traditional virtual bumper safeguarding without speed control.