Investigating the use of unmanned plant machinery on construction sites

The UK Construction Sector has been estimated to contribute 8% of the UK’s GDP [1]. The worldwide recession has forced construction companies to introduce and adopt cost saving measures to increase productivity. Several robotic building systems are in development for the Construction Sector such as the PERI’s Automatic Climbing System [2] and Brokk’s remote-controlled demolition machines [3], but there has been little implementation on live sites. Construction sites by their very nature are dynamically changing environments, so if human input was removed entirely, a robot would need a high level of awareness of the current state of the building project in order to navigate and carry out its task

Development of a low-cost SLAM radar for applications in robotics.

The current state of SLAM radar is quite advanced, featuring various methods of data retrieval. One of the methods used is that of video telemetry to locate “common spots” in the surrounding environment which provide positional information during motion. Another method is that of using high-speed high-resolution laser measurement tools which provide a 360° horizontal field of view and a 90° vertical field of view. These systems create vast amounts of point cloud data and are expensive, ranging from £1,000 upwards. These systems are often unsuitable for small competition robots due to these reasons. The developments discussed in this paper describes various alternative measurement technologies, such as ultrasonic and infra-red and how these can be adapted with the addition of a mechanical drive to provide an almost real-time 360° horizontal field of view and an adjustable vertical field of view

Selecting a small unmanned air vehicle system using the DARPA crowdsourcing model

The UAVForge challenge, announced in July 2011, was designed to bring together a diverse group of UAV enthusiasts to develop the next generation of low cost, small unmanned aerial systems for perch and stare operations in a SSRR context. The challenge combined a collaborative website with a live competitive fly-off event held at Fort Stewart, Georgia in May 2012. UAVForge was a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Atlantic (SSC Atlantic) initiative to leverage the exchange of ideas among an international community united through common interests and inspired by creative thought. More than 140 teams and 3,500 registered citizen scientists from 153 countries participated in this year-long event. From several selection rounds, a core of nine teams competed in the fly-off event and in June 2012 Team HALO from the UK was declared the winner scoring 47.7 points out of a maximum possible 60 points, with their co-axial tri-rotor, Y6 design of mass 2.5 kg (30 min endurance

Investigating novel applications of the coanda effect for small morphing unmanned aircraft

The proposed research focuses on the Coanda Effect and the applications affiliated with the phenomenon. The experimental work is presented with a short discussion. The experiments were conducted on two different types of air amplifier. The first one is commonly used in manufacturing processes and the second within a consumer electronic product, the Dyson Fan. The measured data shows a significant amount of thrust produced at relatively low pressure. With those results in mind the futuristic view on the novel concept of UAV, which utilizes the air amplifiers as the propulsion unit is also presented