Autonomous behaviors for a remote vehicle

A method for controlling a remote vehicle with persistent autonomous behaviors including a retrotraverse behavior and a self-righting behavior executing on a computing processor, the method comprising:

• sensing an orientation of the remote vehicle with respect to a supporting surface using an inertial measurement unit, and, if the orientation indicates a non-righted remote vehicle, performing a progression of flipper motions until the remote vehicle is righted;
• and
• determining whether the retrotraverse behavior is active;
• if the retrotraverse behavior is active, erasing previously-used waypoints;
• determining a current position of the remote vehicle and a current time, and pre-pending the current position and the current time to a list of time stamped waypoints;
• generating additional waypoints and adding them to the list of time stamped waypoints;
• storing the list of time stamped waypoints in non-transitory memory;
• determining whether a control signal has been received from an operator control unit;
• and
• if a control signal has not been received from the operator control unit:
• setting a retrotraverse start time to the current time;
• generating a return path interconnecting previously-traversed waypoints in reverse order of timestamps;
• navigating the remote vehicle along the return path until a control signal is received from the operator control unit;
• and
• setting a retrotraverse end time to the current time.