SSC Pacific Unmanned Systems Programs Technology Solutions and Identified Gaps Michael Bruch http:ww

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SSC Pacific Unmanned Systems Programs -
Technology Solutions and Identified GapsMichael
Bruchhttp//www.spawar.navy.mil/robots/
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Unmanned Systems Branch

• Over 70 in-house personnel
• 47 Government scientists and engineers
• 28 years in unmanned ground vehicles
• OSD-designated Center of Excellence for Small
  Robots
• Unmanned Systems Naval Reserve Unit
• Pioneers in pushing autonomy
• Recognized innovators in Command and Control
• Strong emphasis on collaboration

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Robotic Systems Pool (RSP)
Remington
Accelerates the technological advance of US
military forces and law enforcement by making the
latest robotic technology available through no
cost loans.

• Provides government
• agencies at all levels with
• the opportunity to evaluate and experiment with
  mobile robots in their own unique operational
  domains.
• Users can make appropriate acquisitions of robots
  based on their experience.
• Robot Developers benefit from the users feedback
  and recommendations, enabling them to improve
  their designs and better meet
• the emerging needs.

ARA
Inuktun
Developers
Foster-Miller
Allen-Vanguard
Technology
Feedback
iRobot
SSC San Diego
Users
Spiral Development
World Trade Center
Iraq/Afghanistan
Utah State University
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Current UXVs Are Hard To Operate

• UUVs - Relatively high level of autonomy due to
  communications challenges
• Little to no useful data available until mission
  complete
• Not in widespread use
• UAVs - Air Force criticized by Congress for not
  having enough operational Predators in CENTCOM
• Responded by retasking F-16 pilots to fly UAVs
• Over one-third of Predator fleet has crashed
  (4.5M each)
• USVs - Current operational systems limited to
  waypoint navigation
• Lack collision avoidance
• Requires human in the loop to monitor video
• UGVs - EOD robots require full teleoperation
• Reduces situational awareness
• Endangers the warfighter
• All
• Raw video streams consume vast chunks of
  bandwidth
• High-bandwidth line-of-sight RF links provide
  limited standoff

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As Autonomous as Desired -
As interactive as Required - Raleigh Durham,
2008

• Autonomy and Autonomous Systems have and will
  continue to change how war is waged, by whom, and
  across all phases.
• Will the US lead this revolution?
• Will we be a fast follower or merely observe?
• Should we capitalize on the opportunity to reduce
  not just the number of personnel on assets but
  the number of manned assets?
• What mission space will be ceded to unmanned
  systems?

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Towards Advanced Autonomous Robots

• Localization Indoors/Outdoors, GPS-denied
• Registration 3D SLAM
• Tactical Awareness Machine understanding of its
  environment and surroundings
• Human-Robot Interfaces Natural methods of
  communicating to a robotic squad member
• Interoperability Robot to robot (and OCU) and
  component-level standard interfaces, including
  toolkits to build those interfaces

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Urban Environment Exploration (UrbEE)

• Operational Relevance
• Enhance teleoperated systems with autonomous
  behaviors that can reliably perform in
  challenging urban environments with significantly
  reduced control burden on the operator
• Provide semi-autonomous mapping and exploration
  behaviors to support reconnaissance operations in
  GPS-denied environments
• Perform objective tests/experiments to metric
  performance in order to realistically assess and
  advance technology readiness levels

Early mapping results of two office buildings at
SSC

• Software Technology Development
• Autonomous navigation in the presence of unique
  urban characteristics (i.e., rough terrain,
  paved/unpaved roads, curbs, etc.)
• Enhanced localization and path planning without
  GPS
• Seamless transition between outdoor and indoor
  settings
• Efficient exploration of urban structures
• Modular for cross-platform compatibility

UrbEE Test Site Camp Pendleton MOUT training site
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3D Visualization for EOD Robots (3DVis)

• Operational Relevance
• Manipulation tasks with current EOD UGVs are very
  difficult
• Need a system that will provide a high-resolution
  3D model of an object of interest and allow the
  operator to view and control the UGV manipulator
  in a virtual environment using that model.

• Accomplishments
• Evaluation of various 3D, large-scene modeling
  technologies
• Structure-from-motion/multi-view stereo
• Laser scanning fused with color image data
• Spatial phase video
• Registration software/algorithms
• Visualization techniques/applications
• Contracts awarded to UNC and JPL

Movie
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Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV)

• Operational Relevance
• Current LCS USVs have no Obstacle Detection (OD)
  capabilitys
• Maritime environment poses different complexities
  than the ground environment
• Generally higher speeds
• Moving obstacles with nearly random trajectories
• Changing sea states
• Small obstacles hide in the waves

Movie

• Accomplishments
• Converted Sea-Doo Challenger 2000 jet boat for
• semi-autonomous operation.
• Port UGV hardware/software for teleoperation and
  waypoint navigation.
• Developed obstacle avoidance capability for fully
  autonomous navigation
• Deliberative path planning
• Reactive obstacle avoidance
• Developed and integrate sensor technologies to
  support autonomous operation
• Digital ARPA Radar
• Vision (stereo and monocular)
• Multi-line scanning LADAR

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Multi-Robot Operator Control Unit (MOCU)

• Operational Relevance
• Provides multi-vehicle control
• Provides an open, extensible framework for others
  to build upon
• Currently the common OCU for the Littoral Combat
  Ship (LCS) USV programs (ASW and MIW)
• Slated as the common controller for the next
  generation family of EOD UGVs (AEODRS)
• Used by a wide variety of other organizations

• Characteristics
• Control multiple sets of heterogeneous vehicles
• Vehicle and protocol type independent
• Modular
• Scalable
• Flexible User interface

• Ranked best in Technology and Universality in
  the JGRE Common Robotic Controller Study

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SSC/CCATSuccessfully Leveraging Industry

• CCAT ran three national solicitations in 2 years
  with 17 awards focused on user-identified needs
  for man-portable UGVs
• Has already yielded new capabilities not expected
  for another 10 to 15 years!
• Most significantly

• Feasibility demo of Warfighter Associate (i.e.
  Robotic Wingman for dismounted soldiers) - Dec
  07
• Voice control of supervised autonomy in noisy
  environments - Dec 08
• Door opening manipulator to facilitate autonomous
  search - Dec 08
• Navigator payload for iRobot PackBot - Dec 08
• Company has adopted as a commercial product
• First-gen in-theater evaluation conducted in Iraq
  - Jan 09
• Second-gen accepted for Army Expeditionary
  Warrior Experiment (AEWE) Spiral F
• Navigator payload under contract for FMI Talon -
  Dec 09

Movie
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For Additional Information
H.R. (Bart) Everett Chief Engineer for Robotics,
Advanced Systems and Applied Sciences Division
(Code 71705) 619-553-3672, e-mail
bart.everett_at_navy.mil Hoa G. Nguyen Branch Head,
Unmanned Systems Branch (Code 71710) 619-553-1871,
e-mail hoa.nguyen_at_navy.mil Space and Naval
Warfare Systems Center Pacific 53406 Woodward
Road San Diego, CA 92152-7383 http//www.spawar
.navy.mil/robots/