Intelligent Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Intelligent Unmanned Ground Vehicles describes the technology developed and the results obtained by the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute in the course of the DARPA Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) project. The goal of this work was to equip off-road vehicles with computer-controlled, unmanned driving capabilities. The book describes contributions in the area of mobility for UGVs including: tools for assembling complex autonomous mobility systems; on-road and off-road navigation; sensing techniques; and route planning algorithms. In addition to basic mobility technology, the book covers a number of integrated systems demonstrated in the field in realistic scenarios. The approaches presented in this book can be applied to a wide range of mobile robotics applications, from automated passenger cars to planetary exploration, and construction and agricultural machines. Intelligent Unmanned Ground Vehicles shows the progress that was achieved during this program, from brittle specially-built robots operating under highly constrained conditions, to groups of modified commercial vehicles operating in tough environments. One measure of progress is how much of this technology is being used in other applications. For example, much of the work in road-following, architectures and obstacle detection has been the basis for the Automated Highway Systems (AHS) prototypes currently under development. AHS will lead to commercial prototypes within a few years. The cross-country technology is also being used in the development of planetary rovers with a projected launch date within a few years. The architectural tools built under this program have been used in numerous applications, from an automated harvester to an autonomous excavator. The results reported in this work provide tools for further research development leading to practical, reliable and economical mobile robots.

The International Conference on Intelligent Unmanned Systems 2011 was organized by the International Society of Intelligent Unmanned Systems and locally by the Center for Bio-Micro Robotics Research at Chiba University, Japan. The event was the 7th conference continuing from previous conferences held in Seoul, Korea (2005, 2006), Bali, Indonesia (2007), Nanjing, China (2008), Jeju, Korea (2009), and Bali, Indonesia (2010). ICIUS 2011 focused on both theory and application, primarily covering the topics of robotics, autonomous vehicles, intelligent unmanned technologies, and biomimetics. We invited seven keynote speakers who dealt with related state-of-the-art technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and micro air vehicles (MAVs), flapping wings (FWs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), underwater vehicles (UVs), bio-inspired robotics, advanced control, and intelligent systems, among others. This book is a collection of excellent papers that were updated after presentation at ICIUS2011. All papers that form the chapters of this book were reviewed and revised from the perspective of advanced relevant technologies in the field. The aim of this book is to stimulate interactions among researchers active in the areas pertinent to intelligent unmanned systems.

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) are expected to play a key role in the Army's Objective Force structure. These UGVs would be used for weapons platforms, logistics carriers, and reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition among other things. To examine aspects of the Army's UGV program, assess technology readiness, and identify key issues in implementing UGV systems, among other questions, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology asked the National Research Council (NRC) to conduct a study of UGV technologies. This report discusses UGV operational requirements, current development efforts, and technology integration and roadmaps to the future. Key recommendations are presented addressing technical content, time lines, and milestones for the UGV efforts.

The book largely represents the extended version of select papers from the Inter- tional Conference on Intelligent Unmanned System ICIUS 2007 which was jointly organized by the Center for Unmanned System Studies at Institut Teknologi Bandung, Artificial Muscle Research Center at Konkuk University and Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astrona- ics. The joint-event was the 3rd conference extending from International Conference on Emerging System Technology (ICEST) in 2005 and International Conference on Technology Fusion (ICTF) in 2006 both conducted in Seoul. ICIUS 2007 was focused on both theory and application primarily covering the topics on robotics, autonomous vehicles and intelligent unmanned technologies. The conference was arranged into three parallel symposia with the following scope of topics: Unmanned Systems: Micro air vehicle, Underwater vehicle, Micro-satellite, - manned aerial vehicle, Multi-agent systems, Autonomous ground vehicle, Blimp, Swarm intelligence, learning and control Robotics and Biomimetics: Artificial muscle actuators, Smart sensors, Design and applications of MEMS/NEMS system, Intelligent robot system, Evolutionary al- rithm, Control of biological systems, AI and expert systems, Biological learning control systems, Neural networks, Genetic algorithm Control and Intelligent System: Distributed intelligence, Distributed/decentralized intelligent control, Distributed or decentralized control methods, Distributed and - bedded systems, Embedded intelligent control, Complex systems, Discrete event s- tems, Hybrid systems, Networked control systems, Delay systems, Fuzzy systems, Identification and estimation, Nonlinear systems, Precision motion control, Control applications, Control engineering education.

In the near future, we will witness vehicles with the ability to provide drivers with several advanced safety and performance assistance features. Autonomous technology in ground vehicles will afford us capabilities like intersection collision warning, lane change warning, backup parking, parallel parking aids, and bus precision parking. Providing you with a practical understanding of this technology area, this innovative resource focuses on basic autonomous control and feedback for stopping and steering ground vehicles.Covering sensors, estimation, and sensor fusion to percept the vehicle motion and surrounding objects, this unique book explains the key aspects that makes autonomous vehicle behavior possible. Moreover, you find detailed examples of fusion and Kalman filtering. From maps, path planning, and obstacle avoidance scenarios...to cooperative mobility among autonomous vehicles, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, this forward-looking book presents the most critical topics in the field today.

This book presents new research on autonomous mobility capabilities and shows how technological advances can be anticipated in the coming two decades. An in-depth description is presented on the theoretical foundations and engineering approaches that enable these capabilities. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction to the 4D/RCS reference model architecture and design methodology that has proven successful in guiding the development of autonomous mobility systems. Chapters 2 to 7 provide more detailed descriptions of research that has been conducted and algorithms that have been developed to implement the various aspects of the 4D/RCS reference model architecture and design methodology. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss applications, performance measures, and standards. Chapter 10 provides a history of Army and DARPA research in autonomous ground mobility. Chapter 11 provides a perspective on the potential future developments in autonomous mobility.

Industrial assets (such as railway lines, roads, pipelines) are usually huge, span long distances, and can be divided into clusters or segments that provide different levels of functionality subject to different loads, degradations and environmental conditions, and their efficient management is necessary. The aim of the book is to give comprehensive understanding about the use of autonomous vehicles (context of robotics) for the utilization of inspection and maintenance activities in industrial asset management in different accessibility and hazard levels. The usability of deploying inspection vehicles in an autonomous manner is explained with the emphasis on integrating the total process. Key Features Aims for solutions for maintenance and inspection problems provided by robotics, drones, unmanned air vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles Discusses integration of autonomous vehicles for inspection and maintenance of industrial assets Covers the industrial approach to inspection needs and presents what is needed from the infrastructure end Presents the requirements for robot designers to design an autonomous inspection and maintenance system Includes practical case studies from industries

Academic Paper in the subject Engineering - Robotics, , language: English, abstract: This paper's goal is to give a concise overview of the various development streams that have led to the current status of the UGV area. Any piece of mechanized equipment that moves on the ground and is used to carry or transport something, but expressly does not carry a human body is considered a UGV in the broadest "dictionary" sense. Unmanned Vehicles are the common part of Military campaigns that reduce the load of soldiers. UVs (Unmanned vehicles) equipped with sensors, sonar, cameras and various algorithms provide real-time information which is helpful for the commanders to take quick decisions. Also, they provide access to the inaccessible areas in the enemy’s territory. They are used in search operations as well as in the rescue operations. They provide day and night vision which is fed to their artificial intelligence pre-trained algorithms that predicts the output to give information. Multiple robots can be combined to increase their working efficiency in the adverse environments. Unmanned vehicles are ones that are in close proximity to the ground and run without the assistance of a human operator. The sensors on Unmanned Ground Vehicles comprise the operating system for research and rescue. The robot is a significant entity in this context because it can mimic team characteristics like collaboration and communication while acting independently and intelligently. UGVs are more efficient in combating terrorism and in remote locations. Unmanned Ground Vehicles help and enhance the front-line soldier positions. This robot's ability is mostly contingent on keeping the soldiers safe or, at the absolute least, reducing the amount of casualties sustained during combat.