DSTO & R&D: RASR on the cutting edge for MAGIC | ADM Nov 2010
The Reconnaissance and Autonomy for Small Robots (RASR) team is led by a US based company, Robotic Research, LLC and boasts an impressive team.
Katherine Ziesing | Canberra
The team includes:
• Robotic Research – system integration, hardware and software design, navigation, video processing, autonomous mobility, multi-robot coordination, operator control station, testing, and configuration management.
• QinetiQ-NA (Parent company of Foster Miller and Applied Perception) – base platform, control and Symphony interface, shipping, Talon support in Australia.
• General Dynamics Robotic Systems – enclosure design, part fabrication, business development support.
• Del Services – system integration, LADAR perception, autonomous mobility, and testing.
• Cedar Creek Defense – communications.
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) – laser pointer mount design, system assembly, testing.
Two ERAU interns worked at Robotic Research during the summer of 2010.
Like all MAGIC contenders, the relationship between industry and academia has been key in bringing the project together.
“Our relationship with ERAU in Daytona, Fl has been excellent in particular,” Alberto Lacaze, team lead of RASR and president of Robotic Research, LLC said.
“Throughout the competition, we communicated frequently.
“The students would work out problems under the direction of Professor Charles Reinholtz, the department chair, mechanical and civil engineering at ERAU.”
Dr. Reinholtz brings extensive knowledge through his experiences with numerous unmanned vehicle competitions for colleges, including the DARPA Urban Challenge.
“During the summer, one graduate student and one undergraduate student worked at Robotic Research on all aspects of preparing for the competition.
“Some of the MAGIC competition work will be included as part of the graduate student’s Master’s Thesis.
The RASR Team is leveraging the advantages of a proven platform in the form of QinetiQ-NA’s Talon.
The Talon is in service with several militaries around the world (including Australia), primarily in an explosive ordnance role, with thousands of platforms seeing action in numerous military theatres.
Talon robots are man portable tracked vehicles that are widely used for applications such as reconnaissance, sensing, communications, security, defence and rescue.
The Talon has all-weather, day/night capabilities and can be remotely operated in virtually any terrain, according to manufacturer QinetiQ.
In terms of the MAGIC context, the Talon also has the benefit of an Australian service and support centre, established in 2007 by QinetiQ and Pacific Security and Environmental Solutions (PSES).
“Our robots are built on QinetiQ’s Talon, a tracked robot currently used by the US and Australian military,” Lacaze said.
“Tracked vehicles such as the Talon provide more positioning and mapping challenges than non-skid steer wheeled robots.
“However, we feel that by using a realistic military vehicle, the resulting system will have more military relevance and be closer to a useful product for in-theater operations.”
Due to mainly to budgeting issues, RASR has elected to use a fleet of up to eight robots for MAGIC.
“The autonomous mobility and mapping payload was developed at Robotic Research for small robots,” Lacaze told ADM.
“We utilise a JAUS based interface to control the Talon platform called Symphony.
“The autonomous mobility payload includes a 360 x 90 degree field of view camera, a 360 x 90 degree scanning LADAR (laser detection and ranging), and an inertial – and GPS- based navigation system.
“On-board computers convert sensor data into robot location, local terrain maps, and robot paths to avoid obstacles while performing the mapping mission.”
Based on feedback from the trials and various site visits, RASR has also changed some of the parameters that the robots will work with.
“The main design of the robots and the coordination architecture used at the site visit worked well and are being kept for the competition, with some changes,” Lacaze explained to ADM.
“The main change is the difference in the size of the test area for the June demonstration and the size of the area for the final competition, which is significantly larger.
“We have scaled the coordination and mapping systems to handle the larger area and greater number of robots.”