Robotics Videos

Large-Scale Autonomous Gas Monitoring for Volcanic Environments: A Legged Robot on Mount Etna

Active volcanoes present some of the most hazardous field conditions on the planet, and reliable gas monitoring is essential for forecasting eruptions. In a new study, researchers deployed a quadruped legged robot equipped with a commercial quadrupole mass spectrometer on Italy’s Mount Etna to demonstrate autonomous volcanic gas sampling, addressing the long‑standing challenge of accessing unstable, toxic terrain without endangering personnel. The team integrated a modular autonomy stack that couples robust global localization with a terrain‑aware global‑to‑local navigation framework, allowing the robot to traverse loose soil, steep slopes, and rugged lava fields. Four field missions were conducted: three fully autonomous runs covering a crater rim, a crater descent at the Sylvestri crater, and a volcanic desert at the Legetto crater, each achieving autonomy rates above 90% and successfully locating multiple artificial gas releases. A fourth, tele‑operated mission inside the Legetto crater measured natural fumaroles, confirming the robot’s ability to collect scientifically valid data under extreme locomotion challenges. Notable results include the mass spectrometer’s detection of clear sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide signatures that matched handheld reference measurements, validating the instrument’s performance in situ. The autonomous missions demonstrated the robot’s capacity to navigate to and sample from remote, hazardous locations, while the tele‑operated run highlighted its utility for detailed, on‑demand investigations of unstable terrain. The successful deployment signals a paradigm shift for volcanic monitoring: legged robots can now provide continuous, high‑resolution gas data while keeping scientists out of harm’s way. This capability promises earlier eruption warnings, richer datasets for modeling volcanic behavior, and a template for extending autonomous sensing to other extreme environments such as glaciers, disaster zones, and planetary surfaces.