Date: Jan 15, 2010 Author: Joan M. Zimmermann Source: MDA (
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by Joan M. Zimmermann/jzimmermann@nttc.edu
From washing your kitchen floor to protecting soldiers from explosive devices, the evolution of robots has proceeded apace, from the earliest concepts of smart bots, to today's sophisticated assortment of artificial intelligentsia.
A small unmanned ground vehicle manufactured by iRobot negotiates a muddy track. Technology developed by the company has roots in missile defense research.
In the early 1990s, a group of MIT graduates received a small grant from MDA's predecessor, the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), to develop a six-legged roving robot that would emerge from a hovering vehicle to take part in ground maneuvers. The project was part of a program called the Advanced Concept Architecture Test (ACAT), a DARPA project that involved many arms of the Department of Defense. One concept was to launch a team of bots from a spinning cassette from a 45-degree ramp, a distracter concept that fit right in with SDIO's vision of clusters of weapons containing both live and dummy constituents. Since that successful test, the group of MIT grads became IS Robotics, now known as iRobot Corporation (Bedford, MA), which has since constructed itself into a many-faceted robotics developer.
The robot that emerged from initial testing was part of a many-sided ACAT scenario designed to launch and control a heterogeneous team of robots in varying theaters of conflict. "Emplacement" of these machines could occur by directed ballistic launch, a controlled glider, or a sudden launch of robots with distracters to disguise their arrival. In testing, these robots were even pitched through third-story windows to assess their ruggedness. ACAT also included the concept of a robot-controlling robot, called the Deployer, which would direct the activities of distributed robot swarms. The dependent assortment of robots would each have their task: go off and collect intelligence data, maintain battlefield infrastructure, provide communication nodes within a network, or clean up unexploded ordnance. In these initial tests, the MIT group provided bug-like "intelligent" robots that could execute tasks in relative autonomy, with the ability to change their behavior in response to a changing environment.
iRobot's Looj, shown here, offers homeowners help with their seasonal gutter-cleaning chores.
iRobot has grown very quickly since its early experimental days. Its more famous products include the Roomba®, the autonomous vacuuming robot that can find its own dock and recharge itself. At 3 million units sold, the Roomba vacuum is the best-selling consumer robot in history; it runs about on a stabilizing combination of a caster and two wheels, follows room perimeters, and avoids obstacles as it vacuums the dust bunnies. There is also the Scooba®, a floor-washing robot, and the Looj™, a robot that cleans out roof gutters, thereby preventing ladder accidents by the dozen. Then there is a pool-cleaning robot, the Verro™, as well as a test robot called the ConnectR™, a house-roving communication robot that can interface with your children via webcam, allowing you to keep up with the little ones at home while you are at the office or on a business trip.
However, iRobot's expertise is not confined to domestic chores. According to Joseph Dyer, retired vice admiral and current president of iRobot's government and industrial division, the company
currently has 2,500 robots in active service with the U.S. military. iRobot supplies the armed forces with PackBots® and tactical mobile robots, which are small mobile, remotely controlled units equipped with sensors, cameras, manipulator arms and grippers. They can probe caves, investigate suspicious sites and caches of explosives, and perform other dangerous endeavors. PackBot and its brethren already have a successful and notable record of pursuits—one of PackBot's first tasks was to comb the rubble of the World Trade Center. However, the success of these military workhorses is expanding even further as the need increases.
PackBot easily climbs stairs on its tank-like treads, rolls over rubble and navigates narrow, twisting passages. The robot's patented mobility platform features dual QuickFlip™ track articulations. These "flippers" are capable of continuous 360-degree rotation and enable PackBot to traverse rocks, mud, snow, gravel and other tough terrain. PackBot even climbs grades of up to 60 degrees. The latest version of PackBot, the 510 model, is 30 percent faster than its predecessor, capable of moving along at a pretty good jogging pace of 6 miles per hour. It can survive shocks of up to 400 g's, and because it is sealed, the unit can be immersed in six feet of water.
According to Dyer, the U.S. Army has found that "52 percent of military casualties occur in the first contact with the enemy. And what a great job for a robot—taking over as point man." This point man is called the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV), a smaller relative to the PackBot, weighing in at about 30 pounds compared to PackBot's 60 pounds. It is especially suited to the current situation in Afghanistan, a country with difficult terrain that is riddled with places to hide, representing hard-to-discern dangers for the infantry at many points in their duties. Like PackBot, it can climb stairs and steep grades as well as eject debris from its path. It has a modular design that allows for different payloads, which include chassis, drive, and color-zoom cameras, infrared illumination, GPS systems, pan-and-tilt neck mounts for cameras, and laser range finders, to name just a few capabilities. The SUGV is being developed in partnership with the Boeing Company and the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, to create a portable, reconnaissance and tactical robot to perform tasks that are too hazardous for soldiers. SUGV is a highly integrated, waterproof and shockproof robot, and small enough to probe areas that are inaccessible to humans.
A different military robot called the Warrior™ is also being developed, which is a 300-pound workhorse that could roll easily through rugged tracts, extract casualties from combat, carry heavy equipment, or even be equipped with weapons. Late-stage prototypes of the SUGV and Warrior are expected to be available in the second half of 2009.
Robots that have already been enlisted into military and law enforcement service include the iRobot Negotiator™, a surveillance robot for first responders and other public safety officers. This tool has been made more affordable through the cooperation of the company with the Department of Homeland Security, for which iRobot provides grant-writing assistance. Seaglider™, an underwater vehicle that can collect data for months at a time, currently has 70 units in use by the U.S. Navy and independent researchers, and the Transphibian is a machine that clears mines in shallow surf, while also performing surveillance tasks.
iRobot seems to have no shortage of ideas, and continues to come up with applications for its able-bodied bots. The company is busily fulfilling a $16.8M contract to provide its advanced PackBot 510 series to the United States Army. PackBot 510 will help personnel avoid the dangers of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and sports a variety of upgrades, including a hardened laptop with a game-style control handle.
