10,654 research outputs found

    M.I.N.G., Mars Investment for a New Generation: Robotic construction of a permanently manned Mars base

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    A basic procedure for robotically constructing a manned Mars base is outlined. The research procedure was divided into three areas: environment, robotics, and habitat. The base as designed will consist of these components: two power plants, communication facilities, a habitat complex, and a hangar, a garage, recreation and manufacturing facilities. The power plants will be self-contained nuclear fission reactors placed approx. 1 km from the base for safety considerations. The base communication system will use a combination of orbiting satellites and surface relay stations. This system is necessary for robotic contact with Phobos and any future communication requirements. The habitat complex will consist of six self-contained modules: core, biosphere, science, living quarters, galley/storage, and a sick bay which will be brought from Phobos. The complex will be set into an excavated hole and covered with approximately 0.5 m of sandbags to provide radiation protection for the astronauts. The recreation, hangar, garage, and manufacturing facilities will each be transformed from the four one-way landers. The complete complex will be built by autonomous, artificially intelligent robots. Robots incorporated into the design are as follows: Large Modular Construction Robots with detachable arms capable of large scale construction activities; Small Maneuverable Robotic Servicers capable of performing delicate tasks normally requiring a suited astronaut; and a trailer vehicle with modular type attachments to complete specific tasks; and finally, Mobile Autonomous Rechargeable Transporters capable of transferring air and water from the manufacturing facility to the habitat complex

    SHARC: Space Habitat, Assembly and Repair Center

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    Integrated Space Systems (ISS) has taken on the task of designing a Space Habitat, Assembly and Repair Center (SHARC) in Low Earth Orbit to meet the future needs of the space program. Our goal is to meet the general requirements given by the 1991/1992 AIAA/LORAL Team Space Design competition with an emphasis on minimizing the costs of such a design. A baseline structural configuration along with preliminary designs of the major subsystems was created. Our initial mission requirements, which were set by AIAA, were that the facility be able to: support simultaneous assembly of three major vehicles; conduct assembly operations and minimal extra vehicular activity (EVA); maintain orbit indefinitely; and assemble components 30 feet long with a 10 foot diameter in a shirtsleeve environment

    Chemical Power for Microscopic Robots in Capillaries

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    The power available to microscopic robots (nanorobots) that oxidize bloodstream glucose while aggregated in circumferential rings on capillary walls is evaluated with a numerical model using axial symmetry and time-averaged release of oxygen from passing red blood cells. Robots about one micron in size can produce up to several tens of picowatts, in steady-state, if they fully use oxygen reaching their surface from the blood plasma. Robots with pumps and tanks for onboard oxygen storage could collect oxygen to support burst power demands two to three orders of magnitude larger. We evaluate effects of oxygen depletion and local heating on surrounding tissue. These results give the power constraints when robots rely entirely on ambient available oxygen and identify aspects of the robot design significantly affecting available power. More generally, our numerical model provides an approach to evaluating robot design choices for nanomedicine treatments in and near capillaries.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

    ASPEC: Solar power satellite

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    The solar power satellite (SPS) will provide a clean, reliable source of energy for large-scale consumption. The system will use satellites in geostationary orbits around the Earth to capture the Sun's energy. The intercepted sunlight will be converted to laser beam energy that can be transmitted to the Earth's surface. Ground systems on the Earth will convert the transmissions from space into electric power. The preliminary design for the SPS consists of one satellite in orbit around the Earth transmitting energy to a single ground station. The SPS design uses multilayer solar cell technology arranged on a 20 km squared planar array to intercept sunlight and convert it to an electric voltage. Power conditioning devices then send the electricity to a laser, which transmits the power to the surface of the Earth. A ground station will convert the beam into electricity. Typically, a single SPS will supply 5 GW of power to the ground station. Due to the large mass of the SPS, about 41 million kg, construction in space is needed in order to keep the structural mass low. The orbit configuration for this design is to operate a single satellite in geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The GEO allows the system to be positioned above a single receiving station and remain in sunlight 99 percent of the time. Construction will take place in low Earth orbit (LEO); array sections, 20 in total, will be sailed on solar wind out to the GEO location in 150 days. These individual transportation sections are referred to as solar sailing array panels (SSAP's). The primary truss elements used to support the array are composed of composite tubular members in a pentahedral arrangement. Smart segments consisting of passive and active damping devices will increase the control of dynamic SPS modes

    Chapter Hybrid-Powered Autonomous Robots for Reducing Both Fuel Consumption and Pollution in Precision Agriculture Tasks

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    Environmental contamination and the resulting climate change are major concerns worldwide. Agricultural vehicles that use fossil fuels emit significant amounts of atmospheric pollutants. Thus, this study investigates techniques to reduce fuel consumption in robotic vehicles used for agricultural tasks and therefore reduce atmospheric emissions from these automated systems. A hybrid energy system for autonomous robots devoted to weed and pest control in agriculture is modeled and evaluated, and its exhaust emissions are compared with those of an internal combustion engine-powered system. Agricultural implements require power for hydraulic pumps and fans; this energy is conventionally provided by power take-off (PTO) systems, which waste substantial amounts of energy. In this work, we examine a solution by designing and assessing a hybrid energy system that omits the alternators from the original vehicle and modifies the agricultural implements to replace the PTO power with electrical power. The hybrid energy system uses the original combustion engine of the tractor in combination with a new electrical energy system based on a hydrogen fuel cell. We analyze and compare the exhaust gases resulting from the use of (1) an internal combustion engine as the single power source and (2) the hybrid energy system. The results demonstrate that the hybrid energy system reduced emissions by up to approximately 50%

    Hybrid-Powered Autonomous Robots for Reducing Both Fuel Consumption and Pollution in Precision Agriculture Tasks

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    Environmental contamination and the resulting climate change are major concerns worldwide. Agricultural vehicles that use fossil fuels emit significant amounts of atmospheric pollutants. Thus, this study investigates techniques to reduce fuel consumption in robotic vehicles used for agricultural tasks and therefore reduce atmospheric emissions from these automated systems. A hybrid energy system for autonomous robots devoted to weed and pest control in agriculture is modeled and evaluated, and its exhaust emissions are compared with those of an internal combustion engine-powered system. Agricultural implements require power for hydraulic pumps and fans; this energy is conventionally provided by power take-off (PTO) systems, which waste substantial amounts of energy. In this work, we examine a solution by designing and assessing a hybrid energy system that omits the alternators from the original vehicle and modifies the agricultural implements to replace the PTO power with electrical power. The hybrid energy system uses the original combustion engine of the tractor in combination with a new electrical energy system based on a hydrogen fuel cell. We analyze and compare the exhaust gases resulting from the use of (1) an internal combustion engine as the single power source and (2) the hybrid energy system. The results demonstrate that the hybrid energy system reduced emissions by up to approximately 50%

    Hybrid power system for Micro Air Vehicles

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    Today Micro Air Vehicles are in need of a good power source that would enable them longer flight time and various functionalities. This work is focused on to this problem. A possible solution that is offered in this study is implementing a hybrid power system consisting of battery and supercapacitor (SCAP). The proposed hybrid power system was tested on an existing MAV platform (Cheerson CX-10). A separate hybrid power printed circuit board (PCB) was designed and manufactured. For experimental and system verification purposes, the PCB was not sized for on-board flight. The hybrid power PCB was connected to MAV through light power wires. To eliminate flight inconsistency, a testbed was constructed from plywood. The quadcopter was controlled using a joystick. In total, three experimental tests were conducted. In the first experiment, SCAP charge time was evaluated and compared to the calculated value. The results were very close. In the second and third experiments, MAV flight time was collected for both battery and hybrid powered MAVs for two different flight patterns. The first pattern was flying 10 seconds at low speed using battery power and 10 seconds at average speed using SCAPs power. The second pattern was flying at a fixed average speed: 10 seconds with battery and 5 seconds with SCAP power. For all the experiments, six new fully charged batteries were used. In every flight, in order to reduce the risk of decreasing battery performance, battery voltage was controlled so as not to exceed 75% depth of discharge. As soon as it reached 75% discharge rate, the flight was discontinued. At the end of the experiments, statistical data analysis was performed. The study hypothesis that the hybrid powered MAV flight time is more than the battery powered MAV flight time was proven

    Post-Westgate SWAT : C4ISTAR Architectural Framework for Autonomous Network Integrated Multifaceted Warfighting Solutions Version 1.0 : A Peer-Reviewed Monograph

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    Police SWAT teams and Military Special Forces face mounting pressure and challenges from adversaries that can only be resolved by way of ever more sophisticated inputs into tactical operations. Lethal Autonomy provides constrained military/security forces with a viable option, but only if implementation has got proper empirically supported foundations. Autonomous weapon systems can be designed and developed to conduct ground, air and naval operations. This monograph offers some insights into the challenges of developing legal, reliable and ethical forms of autonomous weapons, that address the gap between Police or Law Enforcement and Military operations that is growing exponentially small. National adversaries are today in many instances hybrid threats, that manifest criminal and military traits, these often require deployment of hybrid-capability autonomous weapons imbued with the capability to taken on both Military and/or Security objectives. The Westgate Terrorist Attack of 21st September 2013 in the Westlands suburb of Nairobi, Kenya is a very clear manifestation of the hybrid combat scenario that required military response and police investigations against a fighting cell of the Somalia based globally networked Al Shabaab terrorist group.Comment: 52 pages, 6 Figures, over 40 references, reviewed by a reade
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