Unmanned ground vehicle
An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a military robot used to augment the capabilities of an infantry unit, or replace said unit entirely. This type of robot is generally capable of operating outdoors and over a wide variety of terrain, functioning in place of humans.
The UGV is the land-based counterpart to unmanned aerial vehicles and remotely operated underwater vehicles. Unmanned robotics are actively being developed for both civilian and military use to perform dull, dirty, and dangerous activities.
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[edit] Design
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[edit] Armament
An unmanned ground combat vehicle (UGCV) is an autonomous, all terrain unmanned ground vehicle designed for combat.[1][2] As such, various designs may be equipped with mounted machine guns, grenade launchers and other similar kinds of ordinance.
[edit] Guidance
There are two classes of unmanned ground vehicles: Remote-Operated and Autonomous.
- Remote-Operated
A remote-operated UGV is a vehicle that is controlled by a human operator via a communications link. All actions are determined by the operator based upon either direct visual observation or remote viewing through a camera. A basic example of the principles of remote-operation would be a toy remote control car.
[edit] Uses
There are a wide variety of remote-operated UGVs in use today. Predominantly these vehicle are used to replace humans in hazardous situations. Examples are explosives and bomb disabling vehicles.
UGVs are also being developed for peacekeeping operations, ground surveillance, gatekeeper/checkpoint operations, urban street presence, and to enhance police and military raids in urban settings. UGVs can "draw first fire" from insurgents - reducing military and police casualties.
[edit] Specific UGV Systems Information
Some examples of remote-operated UGV technology are:
- Unmanned Snatch Land Rover.[3]
- Frontline Robotics Teleoperated UGV (TUGV)
- Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle (used by the United States Marine Corps)
- iRobot PackBot
- Foster-Miller TALON
- Remotec ANDROS F6A
- Autonomous Solutions Chaos
- Mesa Associates Tactical Integrated Light-Force Deployment Assembly (MATILDA)
- Vecna Robotics Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR)
- G-NIUS Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (Israel Aerospace Industries/Elbit Systems joint venture) Guardium
- Robowatch ASENDRO
- Kairos Autonomi - Pronto4 System
- Ripsaw MS1 [2]
- DRDO Daksh
- VIPeR
- DOK-ING mine clearing, firefighting, and underground mining UGV's
- MacroUSA Armadillo V2 Micro UGV (MUGV) and Scorpion SUGV
- Nova 5
- RC Rover® Unmanned Ground Systems
- Autonomous
An autonomous UGV is essentially an autonomous robot that operates without the need for a human controller.
A fully autonomous robot has the ability to:
- Gain information about the environment.
- Work for extended durations without human intervention.
- Travel from point A to point B, without human navigation assistance.
- Avoid situations that are harmful to people, property or itself, unless those are part of its design specifications
- Repair itself without outside assistance.
- Detect objects of interest such as people and vehicles.
A robot may also be able to learn autonomously. Autonomous learning includes the ability to:
- Learn or gain new capabilities without outside assistance.
- Adjust strategies based on the surroundings.
- Adapt to surroundings without outside assistance.
Autonomous robots still require regular maintenance, as with all machines.
Some examples of autonomous UGV technology are:
- Google's autonomous car project
- Mobile Detection Assessment and Response System (MDARS)
- VisLab's autonomous car
- Family of Integrated Rapid Response Equipment TAGS UGV
- Army Research Lab eXperimental Unmanned Vehicle (XUV)
- TAGS-CX
- Kairos Autonomi - Pronto4 System
- CMU's Crusher UGV
- Future Combat Systems MULE UGV
- Robowatch OFRO
- SPAWAR Urban Exploration System
- SPAWAR Man-portable Robotic System
[edit] See also
- 4D-RCS Reference Model Architecture
- Autonomous logistics
- Black Knight (Unmanned Combat Vehicle)
- Crusher
- Driverless car
- Goliath tracked mine
- JAUS, a popular message set for controlling UGVs
- MillenWorks
- Multifunctional Utility/Logistics and Equipment
- Remotely operated underwater vehicle
- Unmanned aerial vehicle
- VisLab, preparing their unique VIAC challenge (driving from Italy to China with autonomous vehicles)
- DARPA LAGR Program
[edit] References
- ^ "UGCV article". http://www.machinebrain.com/articles/ugcv/ugcv01.html. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
- ^ "National Robotics Engineering Center". http://www.rec.ri.cmu.edu/projects/ugcv/index.htm. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
- ^ [1]
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Unmanned land vehicles |
- Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Lab (VisLab) at Parma University, Italy
- The Joint Unmanned Systems Test, Experimentation, and Research Site
- "How Military Robots Work"
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