Tuesday, September 18, 2007



With an ultimate range up to 1000 km, a maximum operating depth of 6000 m, and a
generous payload capacity of 0.5 m3, Autosub6000 will be one of the world’s most
capable deep diving science Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). It is scheduled
for deep water trials on the RRS Discovery in September 2007, after which it will be
available for science missions. We encourage proposals for the use of Autosub6000 from
2008 onwards. We envisage its use in a wide variety of missions, for example : overflow
and exchanges across sills, abyssal circulation + mixing, Southern Ocean mixing
processes, ocean ridge, marine census, canyons and sea-mounts, ocean margins benthic
communities, gas hydrate surveys.


Autosub6000 is the latest 6000 m rated version of the Autosub AUV series, which has
been used extensively for ocean science during the last 10 years, including work under
ice operations in the Arctic and Antarctic. The design of the nose and tail sections,
including the navigation and control systems, are substantially inherited from the tried
and tested Autosub3. The main difference is the depth rating (6000m rather than 1600m),
and the energy system (Lithium Polymer rechargeable batteries rather than primary
manganese alkaline cells).



Dimensions 5.5 m long, 0.9 m diameter
Mass 2000 kg (Dry), 2800 kg (Wet).
Range, endurance 1000 km at 1 m/s (8.6 days). 400 km at 1.6 m/s. (2.9 days).
The 2007 version will have 50% of this range.
Depth capability 6000 m maximum.
Navigation 0.1% of distance travelled since last GPS or USBL fix.
Telemetry and
Tracking
Linkquest TrackLink 10000 USBL and bidirectional telemetry system.
Control Modes Constant depth, constant altitude (5 to 200m), profiling.
Recharge time 5 hours from fully exhausted lithium polymer battery pack.
Standard Sensor
Suite
300 kHz RDI Workhorse ADCP. Fitting of Seabird 911 CTD be requested
from NMFD.
There are plans to fit a Mulitbeam system by August 2008.
Payload Capacity Similar to Autosub3. Large (0.5 m3) volumes free in the nose area for
payloads.
Power for sensors Up to 250 Watts at 48 volt.
Data Handling 100 M bit s-1 TP Ethernet .200 G byte data storage. IEEE 802.11g WiFi for
data download.
Shipping One standard 20 foot shipping containers. Launch and recovery gantry.


A titanium tube housing the Inertial
Navigation Unit (IXSEA-PHINS), a 300 kHz
RDI ADCP, and a high performance Thales
GPS receiver. We are developing navigation
algorithms, involving processing of imaging
or multibeam data, which, for area survey
missions in deep water, will maintain GPS
quality accuracy over periods of several days.

Monday, June 11, 2007

New Armed Robot Groomed for War



The company behind the only armed robots in Iraq is rolling out a new model of gun-toting machine, built from the start for combat. DANGER ROOM has exclusive pictures and footage.

During the early days of the Iraq war, the roboteers at Foster-Miller modified their bomb-disposal machines, to have them carry machine guns, grenade launchers, or rockets.

After years of safety testing and modifications, three of these deadly SWORDS ("special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system") robots were recently sent to Iraq.

But even now, safety concerns (among other reasons) have kept those machines from firing a shot in combat. But Foster-Miller is already rolling a new model of armed robot — one that’s comes with additional extra, built-in precautions, and has been designed from the beginning to fight.

MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System) features new software controls, which allow the robot’s driver to select fire and no-fire zones. The idea is keep the robots from accidentally shooting a flesh-and-blood American. A mechanical range fan also keeps MAARS’ gun pointed away from friendly positions.


The robot is also equipped with a GPS transmitter, so it can be seen on — and tap into — the American battlefield mapping programs, just like tanks and Humvees. These "Blue Force Trackers" have been credited with dramatically reducing friendly-fire incidents during the Iraq war. MAARS comes with an extra fail-safe, which won’t allow it to fire directly at its own control unit.

Nor does the robot always have to carry a gun. A mechanical arm can be swapped "in a couple of minutes" for the weapon, according to MARRS program manager Charles Dean, a retired Army Lt. Colonel. Which means the robot could be used for "inspecting IEDs, opening doors, even dragging casualties."

The tracks can also be removed, and changed out for wheels; better for urban operations, perhaps. Combined with a lower center of gravity, Dean believes the MAARS will be about 50% faster than its predecessors, which rumbled over streets at 5 miles per hour.


See more details at http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2007/10/tt-tt/...

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Programming i-Box III


iBox III Programmed to Never Fall From Table and Stay Away From Walls...

All you need is

2x IR Reflectors
1x Distance Sensor
2x DC Motors1x iBox III Microcontroller

This is very simple program following commands will do this all.


start
to alert
beep
end

to start
wait 100
ab, setpower 8

loop [ if (( sensor 0) > 300
and ((sensor 1) > 300 ))
[ ab, thisway ab, on ]

if ((sensor 2) > 300)
[alert
ab, thatway ab, onfor 150
a, thisway a, onfor 50
a, thatway
ab, on]


if ((sensor 0) <>
[alert
ab, thatway ab, onfor 150
a, thisway a, onfor 50
a, thatway
ab, on]

if ((sensor 1) <>
[alert
ab, thatway ab, onfor 150
b, thisway b, onfor 50
b, thatway
ab, on] ]


if ((sensor 3) > 850)
[alert
ab, thatway ab, onfor 150
a, thisway a, onfor 50
a, thatway
ab, on]
]

end
Please note this programme will handle both 1)Never fall from table 2) Never collide with Walls.
You can add further funcaitonlity in this program for example add a light sensor and then you can program to start moving is light is on and stop when light is off, things like this.


Thursday, May 12, 2005

i-Box III Programmable Microcontroller



i-BOX 3
Is very good Microcontroller for beginners. It allow you to write your own programs in logo language. You can attach different kind of sensors to it to make robots.


Features of i-BOX 3.0
  • 16KB memory
  • 4 DC motor output
  • 4 Digital inputs
  • 2 Digital outputs
  • 4 Analog input 10-bit ADC
  • Piezo speaker
  • Download program via Serial Port
  • Supply voltage : 4 of AA battery (Rechargeable battery 1700mAH or higher)

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Land Miner In Rugged Terrain



Four Johns Hopkins undergraduate engineering students have designed and built a remote-controlled robotic vehicle to find deadly land mines in rugged terrain and mark their location with a spray of paint. The prototype has been given to professional explosive detection researchers as a model for a low-cost robot that humanitarian groups and military troops could use to prevent mine-related deaths and injuries.

The project resulted from a challenge to the students by Carl V. Nelson, a principal staff physicist at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Nelson had developed new sensors to help detect land mines, but he needed a device to carry these sensors into areas of thick vegetation where explosives are often hidden.

He presented his requirements last fall to a team of students enrolled in the two-semester Engineering Design Project course offered by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins.

"I asked the students to develop a vehicle that could get off the road, off the clear paths and go into rougher terrain like bushes and high grass, where mine detection would be difficult to do by hand," Nelson said.

The need for such a device was clear. Nelson pointed to a United Nations estimate that more than 100 million land mines are deployed in 70 countries worldwide, planted during military conflicts dating back as far as World War II.

The cheap but highly dangerous devices can be set off by civilians as well as soldiers, and more than 2,000 people are killed or maimed by mine explosions each month, the United Nations estimates. Nelson is one of many researchers looking for safe, efficient and relatively inexpensive ways to locate the hazards.

To carry Nelson's sensors through rough terrain, the Johns Hopkins undergraduates designed a two-piece vehicle that rolls on tank-type treads. The front portion moves the robot, using two cordless power drill motors connected to a sealed lead-acid battery. Atop the drive segment is a color video camera, enabling a human operator to see what the robot encounters.

The drive segment is attached to a second unit that houses a simple metal detection coil obtained from an off- the-shelf treasure-hunting device.(This metal detector would be replaced by more sophisticated sensors if the model is utilized by funded researchers.)

The rear segment also is equipped with a small storage tank and a spray paint nozzle to mark the spot when a possible mine is located. The vehicle can spray about 40 times before the paint tank must be recharged.

To guide the robot from a safe distance, the students constructed a battery-powered controller with a joystick to steer the vehicle. The controller also features a small video screen displaying real-time images from the robot's camera. When metal is detected, a "beep" is heard over a speaker on the controller or through headphones worn by the operator.

A switch on the controller can then activate the paint sprayer to mark the spot. The robot's camera transmits video up to about 100 feet from the controller; the vehicle's movement can be controlled from a distance of about 500 feet.

The robotic vehicle was built largely with plastic and other non-metal parts to reduce costs and weight. In addition, using non-metal parts avoids triggering false positive readings from the mine detector. The two-segment design also spreads out the robot's weight, making the device less likely to set off a mine.

The four undergraduate inventors, all seniors, were Edoardo Biancheri, 22, of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Dan Hake, 21, from Wilton, Conn.; Dat Truong, 22, from Methuen, Mass.; and Landon Unninayar, 22, from Columbia, Md. Hake, Truong and Unnimayar were mechanical engineering majors who graduated from Johns Hopkins last month. Biancheri plans to complete his undergraduate studies in December with a double major in mechanical engineering and economics.

Working within a sponsored budget of $8,000, the students spent about $5,000 to design and build their prototype. They estimate the vehicle could be mass-produced for $1,000 or less, not including the cost of more sophisticated detection sensors.

Nelson plans to show the prototype to his U.S. Army funding sponsors as a example of the type of low-cost mine detection robot that could help prevent death and injury worldwide. "I think the students did an excellent job," Nelson said. "They met just about all the requirements that I set out for them."

The land mine detection robot was one of nine Johns Hopkins projects completed this year by undergraduates in the engineering design course. The class is taught by Andrew F. Conn, a Johns Hopkins graduate with more than 30 years of experience in public and private research and development.

Each team of three or four students, working within budgets of up to $10,000, had to design a device, purchase or fabricate the parts, and assemble the final product. Corporations, government agencies and nonprofit groups provided the assignments and funding. The course is traditionally a well-received, hands-on engineering experience for Johns Hopkins undergraduates.

More details at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/robot-04p.html


Wednesday, May 12, 1999

Welcome to My Blog!


Thank you very much for visiting my blog.

Stay tuned!

Mubi Ali
Application Development Manager
Microsoft - Ireland
mrmubi@outlook.ie