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| Robotics |
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Robotics practical applications have become very commonplace, however providing true intelligence to robotics continues to be elusive goal in the commercial space. For instance, robotics are often used in industrial manufacturing to perform repetitive work in a less than inspiring environment – they remain undaunted by climate, light, noise or toxins. Since their precision is so accurate when it comes to welding it looks like professionally performed work.
More sophisticated uses include the use of robots in the battlefield, for explosive device detection, disarmament, and detonation, and space exploration have become very compelling – the goals for such applications are:
- Cooperation amongst robots
- Self-awareness
- Cross-task functionality using mobile agents
- Artificial Intelligence (Learning Capability)
- Processing data into information at the edge
- Persistence at the edge
- The use of a tiny processing footprint, gumstix™
Scenario
There is a war zone that is heavily populated with land mines and snipers. Several types of robots are tasked with sweeping the area searching for land mines, identifying snipers who are members of the opposition forces, identifying obstacles and finding “safe zones”. These robots must be able to pinpoint locations, complete or pass tasks from robot-to-robot, share information, filter data, create knowledge and distribute this knowledge intelligently.
Three land UAVs and one aerial UAV that have been equipped with gumstix™and Voyager Edge applications are deployed in are area that is approximately 5 square blocks. The land UAV's assignment is to locate land mines and disarm them if possible. The aerial UAV, using heat detection sensors and a camera, is tasked with finding snipers. The sensor information is used to activate the cameras that are equipped with “night vision“. Images gathered by the camera are screened and analyzed to determine if the heat source is human, if weapons are evident, and their location. Since friendly forces have identification devices, their location will be indicated on a map that is continuously being updated and transmitted with location information.
Once a land UAV encounters a land mine, it sends information within its peer group, notifying the other UAVs in that area of the potential danger. The land mine is recorded on the map and an attempt is made to identify its type and possible disarming mechanism. The UAV is allowed one attempt to disarm the land mine and if unsuccessful and no explosion results, the land mine is mapped and marked with a visual queue. If the land mine should explode, the “peer group” will detect a loss of communication and using information they have received from the deactivated UAV, they will alter their mission based on rules that have been established to address such occurrences.
Hand-held devices and a central command laptop all running Voyager Edge applications, will be updated in near-real time as the robots traverse their prescribed routes through a predetermined area. Each event will be transmitted to selected recipients who may or may not have the ability to alter the robots behavior. And, the robots will also continuously communication with each other - should one robot be “trapped”, that robot can move it's “mission” to another robot, deactivate itself or continue to send information about its condition and location.
The robots communicate with a wireless network that is comprised of numerous edge devices, laptops and servers. When the network in “down” or the robot is not within range of its network, the robot will continue to gather data and create information until the network connected is reestablished. No processing delays and no lost information will occur.
The result of the data being processed on the various edge devices in the field can be the creation of a detailed map of the 5 square blocks that pinpoints the types of objects, their locations, potential threats, the location of friendly troops and enemy troops, and a list of recommended actions based on the information that has been gathered.
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