This post reviews “Passive sensor evaluation for unmanned ground vehicle mud detection” by A.L. Rankin and L.H. Matthies. The article originally was published in the Journal of Field Robotics, July 2010, Volume 27, Issue 4. The military is probably the biggest proponent for developing unmanned ground vehicles. This includes everything from robots which can disarm bombs to trucks which can drive from point to point without a human driver. All of these UGVs are going to have one thing in common; they will be expected to operate in some of the most aster environments on Earth. One of the things a human driver in a truck has going for them is the ability to look ahead and distinguish favorable terrain from that which will cause the vehicle to get stuck. A UGV is going to need similar abilities before they could become dependable parts of a military force. There are a multitude of prop...