Hacia un UGV 100% autónomo

Parece que la carrera de armamentos en el terreno de los UGVs va más rápido de lo que se especuló hace apenas un par de años: Si en un reciente post nos hacíamos eco del ultimo desarrollo iraní, en este post vamos a hacernos eco de que el ejército de Estados Unidos trabaja para desarrollar un vehículo táctico totalmente autónomo, capaz de operar sin supervisión humana directa.

Hoy en día los sistemas semiautónomos están siendo utilizados para tareas muy concretas: Despejar minas, proporcionar vigilancia, transportar suministros, fijar objetivos, etc. Para llegar a la autonomía total, se necesitan mejoras incrementales en hardware, software, cargas de pago y modularidad, entre otras. El objetivo es conseguir un UGV de comportamiento inteligente, capaz de llevar a cabo múltiples misiones de manera inteligente en base a los datos que aporten los sensores incorporados.

Desde luego no será un objetivo fácil de conseguir, y los expertos estiman que como mínimo se necesitarán diez años para empezar a conseguir unos resultados moderadamente satisfactorios. A tal efecto, ciertos OEMs están trabajando duro en ese campo, y cuentan ya con desarrollos que prometen, como es el caso del TerraMax y del MDARS.

iRobot uPoint: A brief look

Advances in tactical robotics are changing operations on the battlefield and beyond. Both the private sector and the government are driving innovation in the robotics fields, towards four cardinal points:

1) Mobility and dexterity to maneuver in the degraded environments typical of disaster zones

2) Ability to manipulate and use a diverse assortment of tools designed for humans

3) Ability to be operated by humans who have had little to no robotics training

4) Partial autonomy in task-level decision-making based on operator commands and sensor inputs

Main UGV OEMs are doing much to advance in the areas of command-and-control for various purposes, including bomb disposal, unmanned convoys and reconnaissance. Just as an example, iRobot R&D Engineering Team have created a controller called uPoint that functions similar to a universal remote control, but for ground robots instead of entertainment devices. With it, users can operate all iRobot UGVs through a tablet application, switching instantly between one robot and another.

Running on an Android system, the uPoint offers an open-architecture ability to integrate with larger cloud environments and provides enhanced communications capabilities. It features frequency agility within the bands it operates on, automatically seeking out least-congested frequencies. Less experienced users can enjoy those benefits automatically while experts could access deeper into the system to manually tailor communications options.

With uPoint, all the iRobot UGVs have similar, if not identical graphical user interfaces that reduce the time to reach proficiency, said Tim Trainer, vice president of robotic products at the company. They all talk on the same radio networks, playing into the idea of the family of systems. By reaching back into the cloud, uPoint can upload sensor data to command-and-control networks while simultaneously downloading specific mission data, training and maintenance tools. Trainer said iRobot fully expects that as the ecosystem of application-based programs grows, more third parties will release apps that can be leveraged by operators on the company’s system.