RaCOON: Radar Classification Of Obstacles in Nature

Forests, covering over 40 % of Europe, face increasing threats from climate change, including wildfires and bark beetle outbreaks. While aerial robots aid in monitoring, ground robots with heavier equipment struggle due to autonomous systems designed for obstacle-free scenarios. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the RaCOON project - short for Radar Classification Of Obstacles in Nature - aims to empower ground robots in forests by utilising radar technology to classify vegetation as obstacles or non-obstacles. This groundbreaking approach enables autonomous trajectory planning and navigation in challenging terrains. Through proof-of-concept experiments and forest robotic dataset creation, RaCOON seeks to revolutionise forest management, fostering advancements in field robotics and expanding professional networks.

 Picture: Tree trunks and canopies detected in radar data