# Rock Hunting With Martian Machine Vision

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.04359 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.04359/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 23 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Apr 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [MobileNetV2: Inverted Residuals and Linear Bottlenecks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.04381/) (2018)
- [YOLOv4: Optimal Speed and Accuracy of Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.10934/) (2020)
- [Scaled-YOLOv4: Scaling Cross Stage Partial Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.08036/) (2020)
- [Deep Learning vs. Traditional Computer Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.13796/) (2019)
- [Overhead MNIST: A Benchmark Satellite Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04266/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The Mars Perseverance rover applies computer vision for navigation and hazard avoidance. The challenge to do onboard object recognition highlights the need for low-power, customized training, often including low-contrast backgrounds. We investigate deep learning methods for the classification and detection of Martian rocks. We report greater than 97% accuracy for binary classifications (rock vs. rover). We fine-tune a detector to render geo-located bounding boxes while counting rocks. For these models to run on microcontrollers, we shrink and quantize the neural networks' weights and demonstrate a low-power rock hunter with faster frame rates (1 frame per second) but lower accuracy (37%).