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The Innex1 Rover is a ROS 2-based autonomous system designed by the University of Leicester for the NASA UK Lunabotics competition. Built on the Leo Rover platform, it simulates lunar regolith excavation, navigation, and material handling in a high-fidelity Gazebo environment.

Key features

Gazebo simulation

High-fidelity physics simulation with moon yard terrain, obstacles, and regolith dynamics

Material handling

Autonomous excavation and deposition actions with fault detection and current monitoring

AprilTag localization

Fiducial marker-based positioning for precise arena navigation

Hazard detection

Computer vision-based obstacle and crater detection for safe path planning

Nav2 integration

Full navigation stack with path planning, obstacle avoidance, and goal-based movement

Sensor fusion

Extended Kalman Filter combining IMU, odometry, and visual localization

Architecture

The rover software is organized into specialized ROS 2 packages:
  • lunabot_simulation - Gazebo worlds, launch files, and arena models
  • lunabot_description - Robot URDF models, meshes, and sensor configurations
  • lunabot_perception - Hazard detection and computer vision
  • lunabot_localisation - AprilTag detection, EKF fusion, and SLAM
  • lunabot_navigation - Nav2 integration and path planning
  • lunabot_control - Low-level motor control and actuation
  • lunabot_interfaces - Shared ROS action and message contracts
  • lunabot_bringup - System-level launch files
  • lunabot_teleop - Manual control interfaces

Get started

Installation

Install ROS 2 Humble, Gazebo Fortress, and dependencies

Quick start

Clone the repository and build the workspace

Run simulation

Launch the moon yard simulation and visualization tools

API Reference

Explore ROS topics, actions, and service interfaces

Hardware platform

The Innex1 Rover is based on the Leo Rover platform, modified with:
  • Custom excavation mechanism with current monitoring
  • Hydraulic deposition system with limit switches
  • Front-facing depth camera for navigation
  • IMU for orientation and acceleration data
  • 2D LiDAR for obstacle detection

Competition requirements

The rover must autonomously:
  1. Navigate from the starting zone to the excavation zone
  2. Excavate lunar regolith using the front-mounted mechanism
  3. Return to the construction zone
  4. Deposit collected material in the target area
  5. Avoid obstacles and hazards throughout the mission
All operations must complete within the time limit while maximizing material collection.

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