RAPIDS: Robotic Autonomous Platform Sensors for Intelligent Distributed Bridging Operations

A key technical challenge in deploying autonomous robotic platforms for bridging operations is ensuring robust perception, navigation, and coordination in dynamic and uncertain riverine environments. These platforms must operate effectively in the presence of environmental disturbances such as strong water currents, floating debris, occluded visibility due to sediment-laden water, and unpredictable surface conditions. Unlike structured terrestrial environments, riverine domains introduce significant sensing challenges, where GPS signals may be degraded or denied, sensor data can be affected by water reflections, and communications between multiple unmanned platforms must remain resilient despite interference from natural and man-made sources. Traditional approaches to robotic navigation and perception often rely on GPS-based localization, vision-based scene understanding, and high-precision LIDAR. However, in riverine environments, these solutions become unreliable due to factors such as GPS signal attenuation near cliffs or under foliage, water spray obscuring cameras, and sensor degradation caused by reflections and surface turbulence. Moreover, coordinating multiple autonomous bridging platforms requires advanced situational awareness and real-time decision-making, as conventional collision avoidance algorithms struggle with the fluid dynamics and shifting positions of floating objects. To address this critical need, we propose to develop the Robotic Autonomous Platform Sensors for Intelligent Distributed Bridging Operations (RAPIDS) technology.