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All-Terrain
Intelligent Robot Braves Battlefront to Save Lives
Public Safety
Originating Technology/ NASA Contribution
As NASA’s lead center for creating robotic spacecraft
and rovers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) builds
smart machines that can perform very complicated tasks—far,
far away from the homeland.
JPL’s robotic proficiency is making an impact millions
of miles away on Mars, where two rovers are presently
unlocking the secrets of the Red Planet’s rugged terrain,
and thousands of miles away in the embattled regions
of Iraq and Afghanistan, where robots sown from the
seeds of JPL machines have been deployed to be
the “eyes and ears” of humans on the front line. This
commercial offspring, known as the PackBot Tactical
Mobile Robot, is manufactured by iRobot,
Inc., of Burlington,
Massachusetts.
Partnership
A number of iRobot employees have drawn from their
NASA experiences to help develop PackBot, including
the company’s two co-founders. Colin Angle, the chief
executive officer, designed behavior-controlled rovers
for NASA that led to the Sojourner rover’s exploration
of Mars in 1997, and Helen Greiner, the president,
worked at JPL as a student, building gripper systems
for space satellites.
Additionally, Tim Ohm, one of iRobot’s senior mechanical
engineers, honed his technical expertise with NASA.
While at JPL, Ohm helped build a NASA Martian rover
whose structural features would ultimately be incorporated
into PackBot. Nicknamed “Rocky-7,” this Martian rover
served as a terrestrial test bed for the twin Mars
exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, currently
on Mars. Ohm worked on the lightweight, high-torque
actuators used to control Rocky-7 and helped develop
its strong, lightweight frame structure and its riveted
sheet-metal chassis; the commercial PackBot robot has
adopted these lightweight features and the same chassis
concept.
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An
autonomous stairclimbing behavior is used to
take NASA’s “Urbie” robot up multiple flights
of stairs without any user control. This is
accomplished with a combination of onboard
sensors and vision algorithms to sense where
the stairs are and which direction the robot
should go to drive up the center of the stairs. |
In a separate effort, JPL’s research facilities produced
payloads for what was considered the official prototype
to PackBot, “Urbie,” while its Machine Vision group
led the design and implementation processes, all through
sponsorship from the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency’s (DARPA) Tactile Mobile Robot program. Urbie,
short for urban robot, was a joint effort of DARPA,
JPL, iRobot, the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon
University, and the University of Southern California
Robotics Research Laboratory. The robot’s initial purpose
was mobile military reconnaissance in city terrain,
but its rugged and lightweight features also made it
useful for police, emergency, and rescue personnel.
With its rugged design, Urbie could be thrown into
a building through a window, climb stairs, and fall
from a balcony. These actions allow it to investigate
urban environments contaminated with radiation, biological
warfare, or chemical spills, or search earthquake-stricken
buildings and other disaster zones.
Satisfied with Urbie’s developmental progress, the
DARPA-sponsored research consortium was ready to move
forward with the field-ready successor: PackBot. iRobot
was made the lead systems integrator and delivered
the new PackBot tactical robots to the U.S. Army, the
U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy.
The resulting PackBot technology delivered benefits
back to NASA, as well, considering PackBot’s wheel
design inspired the wheel design used for Spirit and
Opportunity. In fact, the same machining shop that
made the first PackBot wheels also made the Mars exploration
rovers’ wheels.
Product Outcome
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Already
proven in Afghanistan and Iraq, the PackBot
Scout is the ideal “point man” to search dangerous
or inaccessible areas, providing soldiers with
a safe first look so they know what to expect
and how to respond. |
PackBot’s first military deployment was to Afghanistan
in July 2002, where it was used by U.S. troops to help
clear caves and bunkers, search buildings, and cross
live anti-personnel mine fields. Prior to deployment,
the Army Vice Chief of Staff, General Jack Keane (now
retired), saw pictures of soldiers clearing caves with
grappling hooks. Keane knew that the military had invested
heavily in robotic equipment and did not see why the
soldiers were still using this World War II-era technique.
As a result, a “team” of PackBot robots was delivered
to work with U.S. troops on a “send the robot in first”
basis. The soldiers, who had never previously trained
with the robots, were quickly won over.
“PackBot is as tough, if not tougher, than any piece
of military equipment I have ever used,” according
to one U.S. colonel stationed in Afghanistan.
The configuration sent to Afghanistan was the Scout,
the simplest, lightest, and the most rugged and survivable
PackBot model. The Scout weighs just under 40 pounds
(18 kilograms) and is less than 8 inches (20 centimeters)
high. It can be loaded into the Army-issued modular
lightweight load-carrying equipment (MOLLE) backpack
and deployed in minutes. This proved valuable for the
Afghanistan missions, as troops frequently had to backpack
the robots up the sides of mountains to reach cave
entrances. Once deployed, the Scouts can quickly traverse
narrow, difficult, hard-to-access terrain, such as
caves, tunnels, and bunkers, and cover open ground
at speeds up to 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) per hour.
This model also possesses a fixed “reconnaissance”
head that is equipped with multiple cameras; optional
thermal imaging and infrared cameras can be used for
night operations.
A second model, called the PackBot EOD, is being deployed
in Iraq, in the ongoing fight against improvised explosive
devices (IEDs). This robot replaces the need for a
dangerous manual approach. Several systems have been
damaged or completely destroyed in seeking out IEDs,
but have been credited with saving lives in doing so.
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PackBot
EOD is a rugged, lightweight robot designed
to conduct explosive ordnance disposal, HAZMAT,
search-and-surveillance, hostage rescue, and
other vital law enforcement tasks for bomb
squads, SWAT teams, military units, and other
authorities seeking to meet the security challenges
of the
21st century. |
Weighing less than 53 pounds (24 kilograms), the PackBot
EOD can be carried by a single soldier and deployed
in less than 2 minutes. It is equipped with a maneuverable
arm that can reach as far as 6.6 feet
(2 meters) in any direction to safely reach and disrupt
difficult-to-access IEDs and landmines. The arm also
allows PackBot to deploy tools, emplace counter charges,
and recover forensic evidence. A stabilized telephoto
zoom camera at the end of the arm provides assessment
and surveillance at standoff distances.
A third model, the PackBot Explorer, boasts a continuous
rotating pan-and-tilt head that can rise from the chassis
and allow operators to peer over obstacles and gain
greater perspective. The Explorer payload comes complete
with multiple cameras, a laser pointer, and surveillance
and Global Positioning System sensors.
For all PackBot models, operator ease-of-use is provided
through intuitive onscreen displays and menus. In addition,
the robots’ intelligent behavior eliminates the drudgery
of common tasks and protects against accidental misuse,
according
to iRobot.
PackBot’s patented, self-righting mobility platform
is outfitted with dual QuickFlip track articulations,
so that the robot can climb grades up to 60 percent
and survive submersion in water up to 6.6 feet (2 meters)
deep. These “flippers” are capable of continuous, 360-degree
rotation that propels the robot up stairs, over curbs,
and through daunting obstacles such as rocks, rubble,
and debris. If PackBot flips over during operations,
the robot uses its flippers to perform a self-righting
maneuver in seconds.
Already proven in two recent war scenarios, PackBot
is the ideal “point man” to search dangerous or inaccessible
areas, providing soldiers with a safe first look so
they know what to expect and how
to respond.
PackBot® is a registered trademark of iRobot, Inc.
QuickFlip™ is a trademark of iRobot,
Inc.
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