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Meteor Team Develops New Approaches, Goes Beyond Grand Challenge January 2006
From a concept to a complex robotic vehicle, the MITRE Meteor made it through the National Qualification Event and finally to the Grand Challenge sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Out of 195 original applicants, the Meteor was one of 23 robotic vehicles that competed in the final race, Saturday, October 8, 2005. MITRE sponsored the Meteor in the $2-million contest designed to accelerate the research and development of autonomous ground vehicles. The competition tested the abilities of robotic vehicles to travel over rugged terrain and guide themselves using radar, global positioning systems, and artificial vision. No humans were allowed to intervene during the running of the race, not even by remote control. DARPA's goal is to use the most promising innovations to develop robotic vehicles that will save lives on the battlefield.
In the final race, the Meteor was too good at detecting obstacles and thought it saw one shortly after leaving the starting gate. Says project leader Ann Jones of MITRE's Emerging Technology Office: "The Meteor was doing fine, staying in the middle of the open area. Then a cloud of dust blew up very close to the Meteor from the right. "Normally, when the Meteor suddenly detects an obstacle within five meters, it implements a reactive behavior that has saved it many times," says Jones. "In this case, the Meteor turned left and found itself in some bushes. To the Meteor's sensors these could have been a hazard. At this point the Meteor saw no safe route and stopped." The vehicle that completed the 131.6-mile course in the shortest amount of time was "Stanley," entered by Stanford University. It turns out that Michael Montemerlo, the software lead for the Stanford team, worked in MITRE's Nanosystems Group in 1995 and 1996 as part of MITRE's Student Program. Even though the Meteor, a 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, didn't finish the race, the MITRE team learned a great deal. The team developed new approaches while confirming tried and true approaches that will be used in future projects that involve robotic vehicles. They include:
Robots Cooperate to Stop IEDs Dave Lehman, senior vice president for information and technology, gives the MITRE team credit for a great effort. "In just 12 months they created a vehicle that competed with the best the country has to offer. The technology they developed will continue to be used in future robot programs such as Mission-Oriented Investigation and Experimentation (MOIE) research projects sponsored by the U.S. Army," says Lehman. The goal of the MOIE is to dispel the misconception that robots can only be effective in narrow niches when they are controlled by tele-operators. The project pairs the 4400-lb Ford Explorer Sport Trac with a much smaller 60-lb PackBot robot (manuafactured by iRobot) that can manipulate objects. The two robots complement each other in hostile territory. Packed with sensors and communication equipment, the vehicle can rapidly carry the slow but highly maneuverable, tracked PackBot close to improvised explosive devices (commonly referred to as IEDs). The PackBot has relatively weak communications signals and must normally be controlled by nearby operators. But with the Explorer acting as a powerful relay station, the operators can be located further out of harm's way and potential enemy traps. Once the small robot neutralizes the explosive device, it climbs back on the Explorer and they return to the operator's location. By introducing the cooperating robot pairs concept, MITRE expects to provide more functionality in robot platforms that will help the military take soldiers out of harm's way when neutralizing IEDs. —by David Van Cleave Related Information Articles and News |
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| Page last updated: January 23, 2006 | Top of page |
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