An Integrated Platform to Increase the Range/Endurance of Unmanned Helicopters

Class I (kg) autonomous helicopters are becoming increasingly popular for a wide range of non-military applications such as, surveillance, reconnaissance, traffic monitoring, emergency response, agricultural spraying, and many other eye in the sky missions. However, an efficient landing/takeoff platform with refueling/recharging capabilities has not yet been developed to increase the endurance and decrease the cost for Class I helicopters. This dissertation presents a three-prong approach for increasing the range and endurance of Class I autonomous helicopters, which will then spur demand by non-military organizations wanting to take advantage of such capabilities and, therefore, drop their price. The proposed Intelligent Self-Leveling and Nodal Docking System (ISLANDS) is developed as a mobile refueling/recharging station, which is one part of a three-pronged approach. ISLANDS is an electro-mechanical system that provides a safe landing surface for helicopters on gradients of up to 60%. ISLANDS operates off the grid and, therefore, must provide its own energy sources for the refueling/recharging tasks it performs. A method for determining ISLANDS\u27 energy needs for refueling/recharging of gas and/or electric helicopters for an arbitrary number of days is provided as the second part of the three-pronged approach. The final step for increasing autonomous helicopter endurance is a method for determining placement of ISLANDS nodes in the area to be serviced ensuring that the helicopters can achieve their mission goal. In this dissertation all aspects of the three-pronged approach are presented and explained in detail, providing experimental results that validate the proposed methods to solve each of the three problems. A case study using Commercially Off The Shelf (COTS) components that shows how all the parts of the proposed three-pronged solution work together for increasing the endurance of Class I helicopters is provided as a conclusion to the dissertation

Heterogeneous Drive Mechanisms for Novel Locomotion in Rough Terrain

The smaller the robot the easier it is for it to access voids in a collapsed structure, however small size brings a host of other problems related to constrained resources. One of the primary constraints on small robots is limited motive power to surmount obstacles and navigate rough terrain. This thesis examines the addition of bulk motive force actuators to existing locomotion platforms and the impact of these heterogeneous actuators on conventional steering methods. The steering methods examined are those associated with skid steered vehicles and differential drive vehicles. In developing the Crabinator, a robot composed of a limbed crawler module and a single track drive module, it appeared that the resulting robot did not fit in the regime of differential drive. For that reason the heterogeneous differential drive class was developed. Similarly for the water hammer active tether module this system also did not appear to be a heterogeneous differential drive or skid steered vehicles. This system turned out to be even more general hence the more general class of heterogeneous drive vehicles which has input of accelerations rather then velocities as the previously mentioned classes

Auxiliary Motive Power for TerminatorBot: An Actuator Toolbox

Abstract — A motive toolbox of reconfigurable modules is described to extend capabilities of the TerminatorBot. The robot can be statically reconfigured with both sensors and actuators for particular applications by way of the Morphing Bus. The Morphing Bus is a parallel bus that adapts to the modules connected. A software tool is provided to aid the user in static configuration. This paper focuses on three modules, still in the prototyping stage, for adding bulk motive force to the robot in a hybrid fashion. Methods of channeling the motive force are also discussed

Development and User Testing of the Gestural Joystick for Gloves-On Hazardous Environments

Abstract — For controlling robots in an urban search and rescue (USAR) application, we present a wearable joystick with improved sensing capability as well as Giant Magneto-Resistance(GMR) sensor model for rare-earth magnet. Scientists have already begun to try to apply existing interactive devices to control USAR robots in a disaster. In a USAR task, the selection out of numerous interactive devices has to be carefully concerned. Some clumsy or irritating interactive devices can result in the burden of the carrying. We present a wearable joystick based on unencumbered mechanism. The features of the wearable joystick include easy and wire-free installation into regular gloves. We improved the hardware structure for sensor pad and alignment of magnets and applied band-typed sensor pad to completely wrap up wrist. This band-typed mechanism allows us to reliably obtain sensor data. However, in order to determine the performance of the new device, we perceived that we required an adequate evaluation method. We adopt movement time and Fractal dimension evaluation method to describe the degree of control path tortuosity. In addition, we present experimental results in both computer screen and real USAR robot test. I