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Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Research Project - Comparison of Vision Models for Traversability Estimation

Python PyTorch Computer Vision Robotics Dataset University Project GitHub repo size

This repository contains the code and experiments for the research project:

"Comparison of Specialized and Prompt-Driven Vision Models for Off-Road Traversability Estimation on RELLIS-3D"

Conducted as part of the COMP SCI 7205: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Research Project course in the Master of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning program at the University of Adelaide.

🚀 Project Overview

Autonomous robots operating in off-road environments must determine which terrain regions are safe to traverse. This task is known as traversability estimation.

This project investigates vision-based methods for terrain understanding, evaluating approaches that predict whether terrain is traversable using RGB imagery.

The project focuses on:

  • Evaluating computer vision techniques for terrain segmentation
  • Analyzing qualitative and quantitative traversability predictions
  • Studying failure cases and robustness in real-world environments
  • Investigating datasets used for off-road robot navigation research

The project contributes both experimental outputs and a comprehensive research report summarizing methodology, evaluation, and findings.


🗂 Repository Structure

.
├── ckpts/                       # Model checkpoints used during experiments
├── outputs/
│   └── prediction/              # Generated qualitative predictions
├── rellis-output/               # Output results from RELLIS-3D dataset experiments
├── results/
│   └── plots/                   # Evaluation plots and visualizations
├── scripts/                     # Utility scripts for running experiments
│
├── Analysis Presentation.pdf    # Project presentation slides
├── Final Report.pdf             # Final research report
├── Literature Review.pdf        # Literature review document
├── README.md                    # Project README
└── Research Proposal.pdf        # Initial research proposal

📦 Installation

  1. Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/BrownAssassin/AIML-Research-Project.git
cd AIML-Research-Project
  1. Create a virtual environment (recommended):
conda create -n traversability python=3.10
conda activate traversability
  1. Install dependencies:
pip install numpy pandas matplotlib opencv-python torch torchvision tqdm

*Additional packages may be required depending on the scripts used.


📁 Datasets

Experiments in this project require the use of off-road robotics datasets designed for terrain perception research.

RELLIS-3D Dataset

A multi-modal dataset for off-road autonomous navigation containing RGB imagery, LiDAR, and semantic annotations.

Source: GitHub

Dataset outputs generated during experimentation are stored in:

rellis-output/

▶️ Running the Code

Scripts for generating predictions and evaluation plots are located in the scripts/ directory.

Typical workflow:

  1. Load dataset with download_rellis3d_from_readme.sh
  2. Verify dataset integrity with rellis3d_sanity_check.py
  3. Run GSAM inference pipeline script (rellis3d_gsam_singleprocess.py)
  4. Generate predictions and plots (rellis3d_list_ids.py, rellis3d_eval_binary.py, plot_metrics.py)

📄 Research Deliverables

This repository includes all major deliverables produced during the research project:

  • Literature Review
  • Research Proposal
  • Analysis Presentation
  • Final Research Report

These documents provide a detailed explanation of:

  • Prior work in traversability estimation
  • Experimental methodology
  • Model evaluation
  • Discussion of results and future research directions

📜 License

This repository is intended for academic and educational use.

If datasets or third-party models are used, please refer to their respective licenses.


🙋‍♂️ Author

Mrinank Sivakumar

Master of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, University of Adelaide
Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours), University of Ontario Institute of Technology

mrinank.sivakumar@gmail.com