Boston Dynamics Spot — Autonomous Navigation in Tunnels & Power Substations
LiDAR-inertial SLAM, ROS2 navigation stack, and custom controller for Spot in GPS-denied industrial environments
Overview
Deployed a full autonomy stack on Boston Dynamics Spot for inspection in GPS-denied industrial environments — specifically underground tunnels and high-voltage power substations. These environments present two hard SLAM problems: geometric degeneracy in long featureless corridors, and IMU degradation from electromagnetic interference near high-voltage equipment.
Demo
Stack
- SLAM: FAST-LIO (LiDAR-inertial odometry) tuned for tunnel geometry and EMI-heavy environments
- Navigation: ROS2 navigation stack configured for legged locomotion on uneven industrial terrain
- Control: Designed and implemented an improved locomotion controller for Spot to handle substation and tunnel floor conditions
- Platform: Boston Dynamics Spot
- Framework: ROS2
Key challenges solved
- Mitigated LiDAR degeneracy in long tunnel corridors through FAST-LIO parameter tuning and scan pre-processing
- Addressed IMU noise from high-voltage EMI at power substations for reliable state estimation
- Developed a custom controller improving Spot’s traversability and stability on industrial terrain
- Integrated ROS2 navigation stack for autonomous waypoint following in GPS-denied environments
Environments
Underground tunnels · High-voltage power substations