Unmanned ground vehicle

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) are robotic platforms that are used as an extension of human capability. This type of robot is generally capable of operating outdoors and over a wide variety of terrain, functioning in place of humans.

UGVs have counterparts in aerial warfare (unmanned aerial vehicle) and naval warfare (remotely operated underwater vehicles). Unmanned robotics are actively being developed for both civilian and military use to perform dull, dirty, and dangerous activities.

There are two general classes of unmanned ground vehicles: Teleoperated and Autonomous.

Teleoperated UGV

A teleoperated UGV is a vehicle that is controlled by a human operator at a remote location via a communications link. All cognitive processes are provided by the operator based upon sensory feedback from either line-of-sight visual observation or remote sensory input such as video cameras. A basic example of the principles of teleoperation would be a toy remote control car. Each of the vehicles are unmanned and controlled at a distance via a wired or wireless connection while the user provides all control based upon observed performance of the vehicle.

There are a wide variety of teleoperated UGVs in use today. Predominantly these vehicle are used to replace humans in hazardous situations. Examples are explosives and bomb disabling vehicles.

Some examples of teleoperated UGV technology are:

*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

Autonomous UGV

An autonomous UGV is essentially an autonomous robot but is specifically a vehicle that operates on the surface of the ground.

A fully autonomous robot in the real world 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:
* [http://www.spawar.navy.mil/robots/land/mdars/mdars.html Mobile Detection Assessment and Response System (MDARS)]
* [http://www.appliedperception.com/projects/FIRRE/FIRRE.asp Family of Integrated Rapid Response Equipment TAGS UGV]
* [http://www.gdrs.com/programs/program.asp?UniqueID=19 Army Research Lab eXperimental Unmanned Vehicle (XUV)]
* [http://www.appliedperception.com/projects/Skunk-Works/Skunk-Works.asp TAGS-CX]
* [http://www.rec.ri.cmu.edu/projects/crusher/index.htm CMU's Crusher UGV]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/fcs-mule.htm Future Combat Systems MULE UGV]
* [http://www.robowatch.de/index.php?id=130 Robowatch "OFRO"]
* [http://www.spawar.navy.mil/robots/research/Technology_Transfer/TechXfer.html SPAWAR Urban Exploration System]
* [http://www.spawar.navy.mil/robots/land/mprs/mprs.html SPAWAR Man-portable Robotic System]

See also

* Driverless car
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle
* Remotely operated vehicle
* JAUS, a popular message set for controlling UGVs

References

External links

* [http://www.vislab.it Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Lab (VisLab) at Parma University, Italy]
* [http://www.jouster.me.vt.edu/ The Joint Unmanned Systems Test, Experimentation, and Research Site]
* [http://science.howstuffworks.com/military-robot.htm "How Military Robots Work"]