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Pairing Different Robots Combines Best Features of Each March 2007
When MITRE's robotics team didn't win the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, we didn't mothball the company-sponsored Meteor, a 2004 Ford Explorer Sport Trac. Instead, the team is using the Meteor in a research project sponsored by the Army to develop a unique two-robot system for disarming powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Meteor is now used as a fast, long-range transport and communications relay platform for a smaller, more maneuverable PackBot unit from the company iRobot. Bob Grabowski, the lead engineer for MITRE's robotics team, explains: "What a robot can do is dependent on its size. Large robots can go much faster and further and have better processing power and better communications. But they have problems getting to precise locations off the road. Smaller robots can go into tighter places, but they have limited processing power, which also limits their capabilities." While robots have been matched up before, Grabowski believes that this may be the first time the combined strengths of a large-small robot pair have been applied to a practical military application. "The robot-pair concept can provide more functionality in military robot platforms used for bomb disposal," he says. "Currently, single robots are used to disarm IEDs, but the operator has to be close enough for proper radio control—and that could put him within range of enemy fire. Using a larger robot as a communications relay, we can place the command post over the horizon and still control the smaller one." A Match Made in Heaven A dynamic robotic duo works like this: A bomb disposal team uses a remote control system to drive the Meteor to a spot near the IED, carrying the PackBot in its rear. When the truck is close to the IED, a ramp extends to the ground,
allowing the smaller unit to roll off. Using the Meteor's communications relay ability and rooftop camera, the disposal team—safely located at some distance away in the command post—maneuvers the PackBot to the IED for disposal. After successful completion, the PackBot reboards the Meteor, which transports it back to its starting point. With a camera mounted on the roof of the Meteor, the PackBot's remote driver has the view of a long-distance perspective while the smaller robot travels through tall grass or rough terrain. Otherwise, the operator has a hard time figuring out what he's seeing because the PackBot's camera is so close to the ground. Both the Meteor and the PackBot use the global positioning system (GPS) for precise location control. If the PackBot should lose its GPS signal, it has another nearby vehicle to reference its position. "Even if the PackBot loses communication with the command post, it will come back and dock with the Meteor, and the Meteor will bring it home," says Grabowski. Humans in Charge, but Not in Danger
To make it easier for the Army to use the robot pair, the MITRE team has added communications software compatible with the Army's software. "We're giving our robots the ability to be tasked and send information in Army format," he says. Originally, the Meteor was configured as an autonomous, or self-guiding, vehicle for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Grand Challenge. Now operators can remotely control it with a joystick from the command post. "We've taken the human out of the vehicle but not out of the loop. The user can take control of the robot at any time and drive it somewhere, then put it back in autonomous operation and let it follow a path of GPS inputs." In the Grand Challenge race, the waypoints had to be loaded physically. The Meteor drove on its own and, depending on the situation, either finished the course or stopped because it couldn't go any further. In its new life, the Meteor receives route information by radio from a ground station. "You can use an overlay map similar to what you would see on Google and drag it on the path you want the robot to follow," explains Grabowski. "When you send the data to the Meteor, it will start following that path. If the Meteor runs into a problem, it'll radio you that it has a problem so that you can turn on its cameras and figure a way out. Then you put it back in autonomous drive." In addition to IED disposal, the concept of robot pairs has other applications. Where unmanned supply convoys are traveling, for example, unmanned aerial vehicles could be flying near the trucks to watch over them. Another possibility is sniper support—if a robotic vehicle starts taking fire, it can drop off smaller robots that move out to triangulate the position of the sniper. Regardless of the application, Grabowski notes that the pairing approach can get robotic capabilities to the field faster and more cheaply than developing a single robot that can do everything itself. Testing is going well, he says. "This prototype work is valuable to our sponsors because it gives them ideas about how new technology can be used." —by David A. Van Cleave Related Information Articles and News
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| Page last updated: March 19, 2007 | Top of page |
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