AEODRS, Sequestration, and the Wisdom of Lego

, , , , , ,

UGVs-resized-600AEODRS in the spotlight
All eyes in the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) community are on the Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robot System (AEODRS) program. An important RFP for the increment-1(small robot for dismounted operations) is expected soon, and everyone wants a piece of the action if not the whole shebang itself.

Several things make AEODRS especially attractive to Defense vendors.  For one thing, in a time of sequestration and other budget pressures, it is one of the few fully funded Department of Defense (DoD) UGV development programs around.  Secondly, it is arguably the most important.

Read the rest of the article here.

/by

AMREL & the Boston Bombing

, ,

iRobot Inc. Robots Help To Measure Radiation Levels In Japan

Like all Americans, we were horrified to learn about the bombing of the Boston Marathon.  Like all Americans, we were relieved when the suspects were captured.  Only recently, did we discover that AMREL technology may have played a small role in the manhunt.

On Friday, April 19th, a Honda Civic was found to be parked in Watertown, Massachusetts.  The car had been abandoned by Dzohkhar Tsarnaev after he and his brother had a gunfight with the police.

The police were understandably nervous approaching the car.  According to the most recent reports, the suspects had more than one homemade bomb and had even thrown them at the police during the chase.   Was the car rigged to explode?

Read more

/by

Cars are the new Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV)

, , , ,

I once read a quote from a futurist that many distinctions that we currently take forcar granted will be not be valid in the future. Things that seem as different as day and night will be indistinguishable. Day and night, for example. The proliferation of night vision and other sensor technologies will cause future generations to have radically different views about the level of privacy traditionally offered by the cloak of night. Another distinction that is already blurred is the one between manned and unmanned vehicles.  Read full article here.

/by

Robotics Roadmap 2013 Highlights

, , , ,

Roadmap robotRecently, the 2013 Robotics Roadmap was presented to the Congressional Robotics Caucus.  This is an updated version of the 2009 report, which helped established the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), a federal multi- agency joint effort.

Members of the unmanned system community are barraged with roadmaps all the time, so it would be tempting to ignore this one. However, key influencers are involved in this roadmap, so it should be considered seriously. You can slog through all 129 pages of the report or examine the highlights described here.

/by

Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference 2013 GRCC Canceled

, , , ,

grcc 2013 canceledYikes! The NDIA just announced that it canceled the Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference (GRCC) 2013.

In an email dated March 5, NDIA stated:

Read more

/by

RSJPO Roadmap & ICAF Robotics Report

, , ,

RSJPO Roadmap and ICAF Robotics Report

The last two blog postings were about what will not happen in 2012.  We thought we would take a break from this series and predict what you can expect.   Without a doubt, you can expect more reports, visions, and roadmaps from the Department of Defense.   Here are two recent DoD documents that are worth a look.

Read more

/by

Unmanned Systems Markets: What people are saying

, , , ,

Unmanned Systems MarketsLike many of you, I receive numerous ads for market research studies. In order to excite our interest, they often contain a few snippets of facts. I decided to combine all these“snippets” with the goal of forming a coherent vision of the future of unmanned systems markets.

You can’t get there from here

In addition to examining market research reports, I contacted a few thought leaders within the profession. I also posted questions about unmanned markets in the social networks of LinkedIn and Quora. Read more

/by
UAV Charts

UAV Overview and Public Attitudes

UAV ChartsSome interesting charts came our way recently.  The people at Armada International put together an exhaustive overview of UAVs, detailing payload, engine type, length, and other specs.  You may think you understand the diversity of UAVs out there, but you have to see pictures of all of them at once to truly appreciate the astonishing variety that exists. See UAV Overview for download. The other chart comes from the graphic information folks at Column Five Media.  It illustrates various attitudes of the public toward UAVs, including the completely predictable fact that people are more comfortable with UAVs conducting Search & Rescue missions than identifying traffic speedsters.  See Public Attitudes toward UAVs.

/by

ROBOT RODEO AWARDS

,

Robot RodeoAMREL is no stranger to achievements at the annual Robot Rodeo. As reported by Defense Professionals, our team had success again at this year’s annual evaluation event staged by Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) and other military stakeholders.  For more information on AMREL’s role in this groundbreaking demonstration of autonomy, check out AMREL COTS Handheld Used for OCU & Payload Controller at Robot Rodeo.

Read more

/by

GPS and UGVs: Part II

, , ,

In Part One of our series on GPS, we discussed its uses, problems, and alternatives. In Part Two, we take a look at the role of GPS in Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV).

Inertial Navigation System

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and ground vehicles often use a combination of GPS and Inertial Navigation System (INS). INS depends on input from motion sensors (accelerometers) and rotation sensors (gyroscopes). Through a process known as “dead reckoning,” the vehicle’s current position is calculated utilizing time passed from previous locations and estimates of speed.
Read more

/by