Technology Transition -- Lessons Learned from Fido (registered trademark)/PackBot (registered trademark)
Abstract
This article relates how new thinking was used to successfully address an urgent critical need to counter a major threat (IEDs) to our ground forces overseas. Recently, DARPA awarded a 15-month, $10 million completion-type, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to small business qualifier Boston Dynamics Inc. The company is building a dog-like robot with the capability to run fast, traverse rough terrain, jump over obstacles 40" tall or 2 meters wide, and operate for 2 hours without refueling. The priority application is a robot that could eventually accompany Soldiers in the field as a load-carrier across nearly any terrain. The prototype pictured here is dubbed BigDog and measures 40" long, 28" tall, and weighs 165 pounds. The robot is powered by a gasoline engine driving a hydraulic actuation system. An onboard computer controls locomotion and handles a wide variety of sensors including joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, a stereo vision system, as well as monitors for hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, and battery charge. In the fall of 2005, the Fido/PackBot team put a robotic dog through its paces during a rigorous test to see if it could find explosives in and under vehicles hidden there by Yuma Proving Ground explosives experts. With its wide-view camera and unique explosives sensor located on its highly maneuverable and extendable arm, the robotic dog looked and sniffed under truck carriages, in car trunks and inside vehicles. When the faint whiff of an explosive was sensed, an unmistakable signal was sent to Soldiers in a van at a safe distance away who were operating Fido/PackBot through its Operator Control Unit. After 2 long weeks of testing, the team and their robotic dog declared victory and concluded their experimentation and tests. It was less than a year earlier that ASAALT conceived the idea of integrating Fido, an explosives sensor/camera, on a robotic platform.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA575336
Entities
People
- Irena D. Szkrybalo
- John A. Parmentola