ARMY AL&T


Air and ground MAST systems work with a relatively larger Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle. (Illustration courtesy of ARL.)


$10 each, and you lose 90 percent of them trying to crawl through rubble— as long as you’ve got enough robots that can get through into the space, leaving behind radio relay tags to relay infor- mation back out to a user.”


Networking capability is another advantage of microrobotics. Although each robot alone may not possess great processing capability, together they can form a strong computing network, Fearing noted.


Fearing also discussed communica- tion relay capability. By breaking up large communication maps into several shorter paths, a microrobotic system will use less power than that needed for a single large map.


Probably one of the biggest advantages of microrobots is robustness. If a very small robot is dropped from a great height, “it will hit the ground just like an insect, in a way that will not affect its


operation,” Fearing said. “Making things really small is good for survivability.”


Research Directions Robots in the field today weigh several kilograms, but research is bringing that down to approximately 100 grams or less, Fearing said. Current research and development for small robots is aimed at an even smaller scale, with the capa- bility of running at speeds greater than 1 meter per second.


In battery technology, research is underway to develop greater capacity in smaller packages, Fearing said. However, “we are facing really sig- nificant challenges to make significant improvements over what the cell phone industry is driving in batteries,” he said.


Looking ahead, Full said, “I think in five years, we’ll have specialized in hybrid platforms with added behaviors, such as burrowing, jumping, climbing, and other manipulation. In 10 years, I


think we’ll have multimodal platforms with specializations for certain tasks.”


Sarabandi said much work has been done on mission endurance and lightweight solar cells that can be used as part of a wing structure and provide power for charging a battery or enhancing the mission. Other future developments are likely to include hair sensors, advanced multifunctional wings, and improved flight dynamics.


Slide presentations from the Army Science Conference are available at http://www.armyscienceconference. com/agenda4.htm.


JACLYN PITTS provided contract support to the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center through BRTRC Strategy and Communications Group. She holds a B.S. in journalism from West Virginia University and a B.S. in criminal justice from Kaplan University.


APRIL –JUNE 2011 43


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