NASA Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports

indicates the presence of an intervening object, while lack of occlusion identifies a "ray" of free space. Clever
deployment of large numbers of robots will permit mapping of walls and objects and can also support the detection and
localization of intruders moving within the space. The object sensor can be very short range, simple, and cheap, perhaps
implemented as an array of whiskers. The beacon sensor is more complex, but it can be completely tuned to the detection of
the cooperating beacon. Thus, the robots need tackle no perception tasks whatsoever. System development begins with the
implementation of an initial baseline system in which each robot is controlled by a central coordinating element via a high
bandwidth communications link. The paper discusses the use of a swarm of robots in tactical operations inside buildings (i.e.,
building clearance and covert reconnaissance), and presents a conceptual design for a system capable of navigating and
mapping one floor of a building. (14 refs.)7
DTIC
Autonomous Navigation; Detection; Military Technology; Navigation; Optical Measurement; Robots
20040073649 Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center, San Diego, CA
Autonomous Visual Control of a Mobile Robot
Blackburn, Michael R.; Nguyen, Hoa G.; Nov. 1994; 9 pp.; In English
Report No.(s): AD-A422533; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A02, Hardcopy
An autonomous mobile robot with a vision based target acquisition system must be able to find and maintain fixation on
a moving target while the system itself is in motion. This capability is achieved by most animate systems, in addition to man,
but has proven to be difficult for artificial systems. We propose that efficient and extensible solutions to the target acquisition
and maintenance problem may be found when the machine sensor-effector control algorithms emulate the mechanisms
employed by biological systems. In nature, motion provides the foundation for visual target detection, acquisition, tracking
and trailing, or pursuit. We present in this paper a summary of some simple and robust visual motion based mechanisms we
have developed to solve these problems, and describe their implementation in an autonomous visually controlled mobile robot.
DTIC
Automatic Control; Autonomy; Robots; Visual Control; Visual Perception
20040073650 Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center, San Diego, CA
Controlling Multiple Security Robots in a Warehouse Environment
Everett, H. R.; Gilbreath, G. A.; Heath-Pastore, T. A.; Laird, R. T.; Mar. 1994; 11 pp.; In English
Report No.(s): AD-A422534; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A03, Hardcopy
The Naval Command Control and Ocean Surveillance Center (NCCOSC) has developed an architecture to provide
coordinated control of multiple autonomous vehicles from a single host console. The Multiple Robot Host Architecture
(MRHA) is a distributed multiprocessing system that can be expanded to accommodate as many as 32 robots. The initial
application will employ eight Cybermotion K2A navmaster robots configured as remote Security platforms in support of the
Mobile Detection Assessment and Response System (MDARS) Program. This paper discusses developmental testing of the
MRHA in an operational warehouse environment with two actual and four simulated robotic platforms.
DTIC
Robots; Security
20040073651 Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center, San Diego, CA
Real-World Issues in Warehouse Navigation
Everett, H. R.; Gage, D. W.; Gilbreath, G. A.; Laird, R. T.; Smurlo, R. P.; Nov. 1994; 12 pp.; In English; Original contains
color illustrations
Report No.(s): AD-A422535; No Copyright; Avail: CASI; A03, Hardcopy
The MDARS security robotics program has successfully demonstrated the simultaneous control of multiple robots
autonomously navigating within an industrial warehouse environment. This real-world warehouse system installation required
adapting a navigational paradigm designed for highly structured environments such as office corridors (with smooth walls and
regularly spaced doorways) to a semi-structured warehouse environment (with few walls and within which odd- shaped
objects unpredictably move about from day to day). A number of challenges some expected and others unexpected were
encountered during this transfer of the system to the test/demonstration site. This paper examines these problems (and others
previously encountered) in the historical context of the ongoing development of the navigation and other technologies needed
to support the operations of a security robotic system and the evolution of these technologies from the research lab to an
operational warehouse environment. A key lesson is that a system’s robustness can only be ensured by exercising its
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