Robotics

July 14, 2006 The recent biannual European Land Robot Trials (ELROB) at the Hammelburg Army Base in Germany saw some pretty remarkable ground robots unveiled to the assembled, military, and none was more impressive than the new Spybot 4WD from MacroSwiss. The new Spyrobot is an evolution of the Spybot Mk II, with higher payload and 4WD terrain handling capabilities. Though the unit is quite small and weighs just 6 kg, its cross-country mobility is extraordinary due to its patent-pending flexible Flapper Wheels. The wheels, which function somewhere between riverboat paddle wheels and motocross knobby tyres combine with a robust, fully-sealed construction to enable it to navigate waterways, descend stairs, climb slippery 45 degree slopes, or survive being tossed up to 10 metres. The ingenious wheel design enables them to act as shock absorber, suspension, stabilizer and get enough traction to handle extreme obstacles, such as the “potato field” obstacle course at ELROB where the little feller severely embarassed robots several factors more expensive.  Read More

July 12, 2006 DARPA might have started something huge when it held the first Grand Challenge as a fledgling new sport has taken root - motorsport without the driver. That first race where the best vehicle only managed a few miles has now spawned the first race for robots, appropriately to be held at one of the birthplaces of American motorsport and the mountain that inspired Katharine Lee Bates famous poem, “America the Beautiful” – Pikes Peak. Pikes Peak has a 14,700 ft high summit with a 12.4 mile long access road rising 4710 feet through 156 corners, and annual races have been held there since 1916. Now the first Annual Autonomous Robot Race to the top of Pikes Peak will be held September 23, 2006. So far ten competitors have entered, most of whom will be recognised from their previous outings at DARPA GC I & II, though all comers are welcome. Team Axion made the trip to the 2006 Pikes Peak International Hillclimb (with drivers) last week and on the day after the race Spirit, Axion Racing’s autonomous Jeep Grand Cherokee, became the first unmanned vehicle to drive itself to the summit of Pikes Peak without human interaction or remote control. Spirit’s time of 47 minutes and 10.3 seconds was almost five times that of Kiwi Rod Millen’s record but as Axion Racing’s Team Leader Bill Kehaly explained, “we would have reached the top quicker, but Spirit kept having to apply brakes to stay back from slower human controlled vehicles.” “Our top speed is presently 25 miles per hour and we think we can break 30 minutes at this September’s inaugural Pikes Peak Robot Hill Climb.”  Read More

June 16, 2006 Following the success of the 2005 Space Elevator competition held at NASA’s Ames Research Center, the Spaceward Foundation today announced the Telerobotic Construction Challenge, a new competition with $250,000 in prize purses that has the potential to significantly impact the nation’s space exploration program by developing technologies enabling semiautonomous robots to perform complex construction tasks with minimal human intervention.  Read More

June 13, 2006 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) will find their way into many peacetime roles over the coming decade, and the role of monitoring forest fires is almost certain to be one of them. Last week a group of 70 government observers gathered to observe and assess the capabilities of UAVs in a live fire monitoring application at the USDA Forest Service/NASA UAV Demo at Fort Hunter Liggett Army Garrison in California. The UAV designated to strut its stuff was an IntelliTech Vector P and the results were excellent. Carrying both standard and thermal infrared video cameras, the Vector P autonomously sought out fires set at locations five miles from the airport and transmitted the video back to the crowd of observers. In all, the Vector P successfully completed four day and night missions over controlled fires set at distant locations on the grounds of the 165,000 acre garrison.  Read More

June 12, 2006 One of the trickiest decisions facing a cancer surgeon today is where to stop cutting. The surgeon doesn't want to stop too soon and leave cancer cells in the patient's body, but he or she also doesn't want to take too many cells and do unnecessary damage to organs. That decision could soon be made much easier, though, thanks to a high-resolution touch sensor developed by chemical engineers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that may allow surgeons to tell at the level of a single layer of cells whether or not they have excised a tumor in its entirety. Ravi F. Saraf, and his doctoral student, Vivek Maheshwari, report in the June 9 issue of Science, the international weekly journal of science, that they have developed a self-assembling nanoparticle device that has touch sensitivity comparable to that of the human finger, a capability far beyond any mechanical devices now available.  Read More

May 25, 2006 The world of robotics is developing remarkably quickly, mainly due to the keen interest of the United States Government in wishing to ensure its military personnel are shielded from harm’s way. Robots can't get killed. Any damage sustained can be repaired. The seeming necessity to fight a war on terror has accelerated development to dizzying urgency and has precipitated the twice run DARPA Grand Challenge and an Urban Grand Challenge planned for next year. The knowledge gained in conducting these machine olympiads has been fast-tracked into prototypes, the first of which we have just seen, the awesomely powerful Crusher UGV. Other species of UGV have developed ranging from SWORDS, the the world’s first robotic combat soldier, through the six-wheeled R-GATOR to the quadruped robotic mule. Funding is flowing for the development of dozens of military-application UAV systems from man-packable size to massive intelligent jet-powered uber-birds that can identify a human target and take it out in one quite literal fell swoop. We’re also seeing unmanned underwater vehicles developed for exploration, mine-clearance, underwater patrol, inspection, maintenance ad infinitum. And as imagination runs rife in the area, new categories of UAV are emerging such as the omnipotent Cormorant MPUAV and the carbon fibre and Kevlar Snark, the meanest and leanest VTOL UAV on the planet. One area that has been notably lean in unmanned vehicle development is surface craft, so a new vehicle, jointly developed by BAE Systems, RAFAEL and Lockheed Martin is worthy of some attention. The Protector is an unmanned integrated naval combat system with a stabilized gun and the ability to conduct a wide spectrum of critical missions while eliminating unnecessary risk to personnel and capital assets. It’s stealthy, fast and highly manoeuvrable, identifies its targets through an electro-optical system and has day and night strike capabilities. Highly autonomous and remotely controlled, the Protector can successfully operate with general guidance from a commander and operator.  Read More

May 18, 2006 Last year we wrote about the ScanEagle UAV and its success in supplying U.S. Marines in Iraq with critical real-time tactical battlefield imagery. This time, we’re writing about the adaptation of the ScanEagle as a low-cost intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform for amphibious operations. Currently being trialled for its maritime capabilities by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) in "Trial Vigilant Viper" off the coast of Scotland, the ScanEagle completed ten autonomous flights with full launch and recovery from a Type 23 Frigate in rough sea conditions. A small UAV such as the ScanEagle can significantly increase the capability of a boat, and the missions conducted during the trial illustrate this enormous potential for land and sea surveillance, beach reconnaissance, force protection, maritime interdiction and naval gunfire support.  Read More

May 3, 2006 We suspect the announcement by LEGO that it will release as open source the firmware of the LEGO MINDSTORMS microprocessor (the new NXT brick – the core component of its next generation robotics toolset) will have a considerable impact on the fledgling robotics home hobby marketplace and potentially on general robotic knowledge. LEGO will also release Software, Hardware and Bluetooth Developer Kits to its growing global audience of robotics enthusiasts. The firmware code and three developer kits will be available in August 2006 to conincide with retail availability of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT.  Read More

May 3, 2006 We’re very excited this week about the prospects for Unmanned Ground Vehicles given the unveiling of Crusher and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announcing plans to hold its third Grand Challenge competition on November 3, 2007. The DARPA Urban Challenge will feature autonomous ground vehicles executing simulated military supply missions safely and effectively in a mock urban area. Safe operation in traffic is essential to U.S. military plans to use autonomous ground vehicles to conduct important missions. So rapidly have UGVs developed in the last few years thanks to Grand Challenges I & II, we suddenly see the prospect of unmanned vehicles being used in civilian occupations – a driver that never sleeps, obeys all the laws, costs a fraction of a human being’s time. Delivery robots make sense and within a few years our bet is that the technology will be in place. The winner gets far more than just US$2 million, as the leading contenders have found in previous events – the world will beat a path to your door if you can win Grand Challenge III. To win, you’ll need to have your UGV complete a 60-mile course through urban traffic under six hours. The UGV will need to be able to merge with traffic, read traffic signs, navigate roundabouts, busy intersections, avoid running over errant pedestrians, avoid obstacles – just like a normal automobile driver.  Read More