From ADAS to Material-Informed Inspection: Review of Hyperspectral Imaging Applications on Mobile Ground Robots

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) has evolved from its origins in space missions to become a promising sensing technology for mobile ground robots, offering unique capabilities in material identification and scene understanding. This review examines the integration and applications of HSI systems in ground-based mobile platforms, with emphasis on outdoor implementations. The analysis covers recent developments in two main application domains: autonomous navigation and inspection tasks. In navigation, the review explores HSI applications in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and off-road scenarios, examining how spectral information enhances environmental perception and decision making. For inspection applications, the investigation covers HSI deployment in search and rescue operations, mining exploration, and infrastructure monitoring. The review addresses key technical aspects including sensor types, acquisition modes, and platform integration challenges, particularly focusing on environmental factors affecting outdoor HSI deployment. Additionally, it analyzes available datasets and annotation approaches, highlighting their significance for developing robust classification algorithms. While recent advances in sensor design and processing capabilities have expanded HSI applications, challenges remain in real-time processing, environmental robustness, and system cost. The review concludes with a discussion of future research directions and opportunities for advancing HSI technology in mobile robotics applications.