Benchmarking assessment for technology readiness in SpaceBot

The German SpaceBot Cup is a robotics competition that has its first edition in 2013. A second edition is expected by the end of 2015. The SpaceBot application scenario involves typical exploration tasks carried out on a planetary surface after landing on a planet. Competitors' robots are challenged to locate and identify objects, and then convey them to a base station. This activity is meant to be carried out as autonomously as possible by means of unmanned vehicles. This paper presents a comprehensive description, outcomes and interesting findings from SpaceBot 2013. It includes an analysis and identification of weakness and problems from the first completion. The paper discussion also involve details from the SpaceBot Cup 2015, and a benchmarking approach to pave the way to measure standard Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) shown by the robotic systems. The benchmark is based on metrics and criteria that are applied to the performance of robots in the above scenario. This paper also discusses the relevance of the benchmarking assessment to the second competition in 2015. Concluding remarks from the SpaceBot Cup 2013 and the benchmarking-assessment criteria as well as future work toward the SpaceBot Cup 2015 and beyond are also presented.