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Packbot,
IRobot- shown in the picture is climbing
over a large pipe obstacle. This robot uses articulated
forward tracks (Flippers) which can rotate 360 degrees,
continuously. This robot can climb stairs easily and steep
slopes up to sixty degrees. The Flippers can be used to tilt the body section upwards
and maneuver on just the flipper tracks. Urbie can use the flippers to climb over obstacles
several times its
height. |
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Packbot,
IRobot- In this picture,
Packbot has high centered on the robot’s flat bottom. The
robot has the capability to rotate the track flippers down to gain
additional ground clearance. This will allow it to move over the
rock very easily. The robot uses a Pentium Computer for
control running the Linux operating system. Packbot is ruggedly
constructed to withstand a fall from a third story building without
being damaged. |
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Lemming,
Foster Miller-The Lemming robot is designed to
be completely submersible at depths of over 200 feet. It has
successfully demonstrated in tests that it can travel on the ocean
floor from as far as 1 km from the shore and climb onto the beach
and successfully progress to its target. Tracks are open on
this robot allowing debris to adversely effect the operation
of the tracks. |
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Matilda,
Mesa Associates-A large heavy robot that climbs
over obstacles using high torque motors. The system can climb stairs very quickly. The
tracks have a square hole about every 2 inches and the drive
pulleys have a mating tooth to insure the tracks don’t come off of
the vehicle during normal operation. The system uses lead
acid batteries and a short-range wireless control system. |
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Rattler,
Sandia National Laboratories-A four-wheel drive robot with a
pivot point between the two main square body sections. The
split design allows the system to gain traction on uneven ground
or while it transverses over objects such as rocks. One weak
area
of this design is the system can flip over easily without a self
righting capability. This design has good clearance from the
ground and it has pretty good performance on compliant
surfaces. It cannot climb stairs or other similar obstacles
like the tracked systems can. |
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Sarge,
designed by Sandia National
Laboratories-This robot uses a Honda ATV (All
Terrain Vehicle) as its base platform. A 4 GHz 5 watt
communications link uses a directional antenna at the truck
control station and an omni-directional antenna on the vehicle for
operating ranges of over 5km. The system communicates live
video and control data between the operator in a specialized troop
carrier truck and the robot. A fifty-foot high telescopic
directional antenna is mounted on the truck for long-range
communication
capability. |
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to its very large size and powerful gasoline engine, compliant surfaces
are general not a problem for this machine. One interesting point
discussed at a military demonstration, the designers had originally used
a 1.2 GHZ link and received much better range capabilities with a
corresponding improvement of penetration in wooded areas as
well.
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