Driving Performance of Drug-Impaired Bus Drivers in Work Zone Areas

There are several safety issues in work zone areas due to decrease lane width, and presence of large equipment and on-site workers. The safety issues are compounded for drivers that are also drug impaired. In this study, we examine the driver performance of 18 commercial bus operators in a simulated environment while they are under the influence of a benzodiazepine drug (Triazolam). The findings show that those drivers under the influence of the drug had higher steering entropy and greater difficulty staying close to the intended travel lane when compared to those who were not under the influence of the drug. These wider travelling distances around work barrels, by those under the influence of Triazolam, could have a potential impact on the safety of nearby construction workers and heavy machine operators

Innovation 5: An Approach to Advancing Economic Development through Entrepreneurship, STEM Promotion and Fostering Innovation and Collaboration

Delivering advanced manufacturing tools as public resources for communities and utilizing them in formal and informal STEM education opportunities will promote economic growth through learning applicable skills

Fast, Autonomous Flight in GPS-Denied and Cluttered Environments

One of the most challenging tasks for a flying robot is to autonomously navigate between target locations quickly and reliably while avoiding obstacles in its path, and with little to no a-priori knowledge of the operating environment. This challenge is addressed in the present paper. We describe the system design and software architecture of our proposed solution, and showcase how all the distinct components can be integrated to enable smooth robot operation. We provide critical insight on hardware and software component selection and development, and present results from extensive experimental testing in real-world warehouse environments. Experimental testing reveals that our proposed solution can deliver fast and robust aerial robot autonomous navigation in cluttered, GPS-denied environments.Comment: Pre-peer reviewed version of the article accepted in Journal of Field Robotic

Critical Timescales for Burrowing in Undersea Substrates via Localized Fluidization, Demonstrated by RoboClam: A Robot Inspired by Atlantic Razor Clams

The Atlantic razor clam (Ensis directus) burrows into underwater soil by using motions of its shell to locally fluidize the surrounding substrate. The energy associated with movement through fluidized soil — characterized by a depth-independent density and viscosity — scales linearly with depth. In contrast, moving through static soil requires energy that scales with depth squared. For E. directus, this translates to a 10X reduction in the energy required to reach observed burrow depths. For engineers, localized fluidization offers a mechanically simple and purely kinematic method to dramatically reduce burrowing energy. This concept is demonstrated with RoboClam, an E. directus-inspired robot. Using a genetic algorithm to generate digging kinematics, RoboClam has achieved localized fluidization and burrowing performance comparable to that of the animal, with a linear energy-depth relationship. In this paper, we present the critical timescales and associated kinematics necessary for achieving localized fluidization, which are calculated from soil parameters and validated via RoboClam and E. directus testing.Battelle Memorial InstituteBluefin RoboticsChevron Corporatio