Capabilities to Increase Access for Unmanned Surveillance Systems
Grant Appel, Seth Konig, George Gardner, Shawn Mathis, John Olson, William Yates, Michael L. Anderson, Hugh C. Briggs, Prashant Ganesh, J. Humberto Ramos · AIAA SCITECH 2023 Forum · 2023
View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2023-0966.vid Unmanned systems are proliferating into increasingly difficult operational environments, especially indoors, where navigation, locomotion, and communication are all challenged. With increasing capabilities, unmanned systems are being considered for even the most difficult missions, such as breaching and exploring subterranean spaces, which may encompass a range of challenging underground facilities. In this work, the development of an unmanned ground vehicle is described which includes a unique ability to launch small articles that can increase access into otherwise secured regions. The proposed system is equipped with Red-Green-Blue-Depth cameras for visual navigation and obstacle avoidance to explore underground facilities, and a spring-loaded cannon to identify and infiltrate personnel doors. An algorithm is included to identify doors, position the robot appropriately in front of the door, calculate a trajectory, and place the article at the desired location on the door. A prototype of the proposed system was developed and, in testing, demonstrated all of the critical functions.