Angelus Research Military Robot Experience

Don Golding, president of Angelus Research Corp., began working with United States Special Forces (SOF) in an experimental robot demonstration program call: SOFROB (Special Operations Forces  ROBotics) PROJECT.  The goal was to demonstrate that a small, man packable, robot could be an entirely new and useful tool for military use.  Angelus Research Corp. was chosen to develop the long-range wireless system used in the program.  The requirements included a man packable, remote controlled system that could be tele-operated with enough on-board intelligence to stop and try to re-establish communications when the RF Communications link was lost.

Working closely with US Special Forces, the company developed a prototype robot called the Penetrator Robot (nicknamed “Goldie” by the soldiers).  The robot had a four-wheel drive system with two wheels having limited articulation to improve traction on uneven ground.  It had a completely wireless control system and wireless live video system as well.  Through the testing of several COTS wireless systems mounted in the robot, the wireless subsystem proved to be a major impediment to fielding useful robotic systems.  The military standoff range specification as defined in the SOFROB PROJECT was at least 1 KM.  The best systems tested operated up 2000 feet, line of site.  Manufacturers typically test their systems under ideal conditions with high gain directional antennas, referring to these range tests in their sales literature.  Robots operating on the ground proved to be the worst-case scenario for these wireless systems.  Mobility as defined as: climbing ability, traction in snow, mud, sand, high grass proved to be the other major hurtle.  Self-righting capability was also found to be essential.  If the robot tipped over, it completely failed its mission.

The SOFROB PROJECT program conducted many different experiments with the system, demonstrating to top military personnel that small man packable robots are a viable concept for use in the military.  Demonstrations include: ground zero bomb damage assessment, remote targeting, reconnaissance missions, decoy operations and deployment, hazmat operations, demining, search and rescue, and Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) missions. 

The SOFROB program was successful in establishing a need for these types of systems with the DARPA TMR (Tactical Mobil Robot) program continuing development of the technology to this day.

A compliant surface design was envisioned with the Intruder Robot.  The design goals were to incorporate the traction capabilities of tracked vehicles with the rolling efficiency of a wheel system.  This design concept started in the SOFROB PROJECT but it was not completed in time to be used in the program.  Angelus Research Corp. completed the development in 1999 and though its own testing, found that while Intruder had met the design goals for programs mobility requirements, its size had increased substantially from the original design goals.  The robot was tested with a new completely wireless control system with a range of 1.5KM using non-directional antenna at both the robot and operator.  This was a major accomplishment for small robot systems.  The Intruder worked very well in the snow and tall grass utilizing its a very aggressive tread design and all-surface-drive capability.  It was not tested in a muddy environment.  The robot could carry  up to six lead-acid gell cells with 360 watts of on-board power and operate mobile for about two hours continuously.  Weight was also an issue for the Intruder design, about 40 pounds.  It used both aircraft aluminum and plastic components in its construction. 

After demonstrating the system to key military personnel, it became clear that stair climbing capability has become critically important to the military for MOUT operations, etc.  Although the Intruder may have certain specific applications, a new design was in order to meet the desired stair climbing requirements.

Through the experience gained in both the SOFROB program, attendence of the DARPA IPR meetings, and self funded development of Angelus Research Corp., a third design is being completed.  The ART I (Articulated Robot Transport), meets requirements of a stair climbing, a wireless control range of 1 km, and the operating goal of over four hours of mobile operation.  Stand by operation is theoretically over 10 hours.  The robot will be self-inverting using a folding arm that is not shown in the picture.  It will fold up into the top channel section and can be deployed for stabilizing the system for stair climbing, or self-inverting capability if the robot tips over.  The robot carries six lightweight military BA5590 Lithium/Ion batteries giving it exceptional operating time and substantially improves its weight characteristics.  Angelus Research Corp. developed a custom intelligent power management system, to allow the powerful and lightweight military batteries to be used for robotic applications.  The BA5590’s cannot supply more than 2 amperes of current per cell while the robot needs 12 amps of current in full motor stall conditions.  The battery cells could not be connected in parallel, as the internal fuses would cause a cascading failure condition.  This problem was discovered in the SOFROB program when Angelus Research attempted to use them in the Goldie Robot.  On-board power for the ART-1 robot is about 1.5 kilowatts using the Intelligent Power Management System (IPMS) developed by the company.  The robot with six BA5590 batteries installed, weighs in at 25 pounds and the physical dimensions are 13 inches wide, 21 inches long, and 7 inches high. 

Power systems are always the limiting factor in mobile robots.  DAPRA TMR is funding several programs to develop new and novel power sources.  Angelus Research Corp. has found though experience, that lead acid batteries are two large and bulky to deliver power capacity, performance, and the lightweight requirements military robots need, so it developed the IPMS system to use standard BA5590 batteries used throughout the military.

The Key Elements of Successful Real-Time Sensor Based Control

Adaptable systems require real-time decision-making ability from sensory information.  The main limitation hindering the deployment of fully autonomous robots in early 1990’s was the lack of a real-time, distributive and intelligent operating system for these intelligent machines.  Don Golding developed a novel three level control concept later called TOS (Triune Operating System) and a high level robotics language used to program robotics systems.  Dr. Kenneth Butterfield of the Los Alamos National Laboratory took the design and improved its speed by programming the background tasks entirely in assembler code.  He added numerous enhancements to the operating system and the language as well.

In the early 1990’s, Angelus Research developed the Triune Operating System to allow robotic systems to make intelligent decisions based on sensor data.  It has been used in applications from industrial control, education and research, to military robotics and has proven its capability and reliability many times.  In fact, there are over one thousand robots and machines in the world today using the company’s controller/operating system.  Another key element of the controller is the minimal power requirement.  The controller uses less than ½ of a watt of power and the system is immune to motor noise. Other systems such as those using Intel Pentium based systems can use as much as 50 watts or more of onboard power and they can be very susceptible to motor noise.  These systems use much more power and produce significant amounts of heat causing a severe IR heat signature.  Systems relying on these high performance processors typically use standard mathematical intensive techniques for control like PID motor control algorithms.

The Company's current real-time control software emulates the three level architecture found in the human brain: Cerebral Cortex, Limbic System, and Brain Stem.  The system uses sensor motor fusion at the lowest level on control.  This is referred to as the Instinct Level (Brain Stem) and it controls the motion of the robot.  This is the reactive level like the human nervous system.  The Instinct level performs collision avoidance functions; pulse width modulated motor control, power level monitoring, and most important motor load monitoring, which will help in the sensing of surface compliance.

Critical behaviors take control from the Outer Level (Cerebral Cortex) in real-time.  This Task/Behavior level is used for controlling the robots behavior when it encounters different situations (low battery, multi sensor strikes, etc.)  It is important to note that the Instinct Level continues to operate even when the Behavior Level takes control. One behavior at this level would take control to self-right the robot when the inverted sensor triggered.  Another behavior would alter motor speeds based on direction goals.  Repetitious functions like walking would also be performed at this level.

The Outer Level is used for higher-level processes such as: machine learning functions, goal monitoring, and tele-operated control and communication.

Radio Frequency (RF) Communication

A robot is a complex system where successful integration of it’s various components requires that the specifications of each subsystem needs to be defined before an overall design approach is even considered.  If the RF system requires 50 watts of power, weighs four pounds, and needs a specific type of antenna and antenna height to operate successfully, certain mechanical approaches may be excluded early in the design stage.

Communicating with a vehicle that is less than twelve inches high, as the vehicle is pitching in any number of directions is quite a challenge.  Add to that, it is turning and transverse ditches where the communication link is not line of site and you have a very difficult problem indeed.   During the SOFROB program, whenever the robotics researchers participated in a demonstration, some team’s RF Communication link either worked only marginally or not at all.  Most teams purchased off of the shelf-systems including Angelus Research Corp. for the ‘Goldie” robot.

Wireless systems usually included a 900mhz control link to the robot and a 2.4ghz real-time video transmission system from the robot to the controller.  One Goldie, we had a 900mhz spread spectrum 1 watt control link and a 2.4 ghz 2 watt video transmission system.  We would lose video before the control link in adverse conditions.  The control link without directional antennas was reliable out to 2000 feet and the video system required directional Yagi Antennas for reasonable range.  One ideal test placed the operator on top of a hill with Goldie at the bottom of the hill some 5km away.  Both sides used Yagi antennas to achieve this range.

These frequencies, 900mhz and 2.4ghz are specifically authorized by the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) Part 15 for license free Industrial, Medical and Scientific uses.  Power was limited to 100mw continuous and 1-watt spread spectrum under Part 15 but Law Enforcement or military users could use higher power levels in these bands.

Angelus Research Corp. has expended substantial resources in the communications wireless link area.  In fact, Mr. Golding, the principle investigator, obtained his Technician Amateur Radio License to legally operate and develop radio equipment for military robotics.  Mr. Golding found through extensive development and testing, the wireless video link should be in the UHF (Ultra High Frequency) Band and the wireless control link should operate in the VHF (Very High Frequency) band.  A 440 MHz 2 Watt control link at two watts was tested successfully on the Angelus Research Corp. Intruder robot with a communication loss at over 1.5 KM.  The new ART1 robot will have a control link in the VHF band and a video link in the UHF band.  Corresponding military bands are available also.  These wireless systems will give the robot a minimum range of 1 KM with omni-directional antennas and excellent wooded area operation as well.

Other companies such as Raytheon and Time Domain are in the process of developing wireless systems in the DARPA TMR Program.  Raytheon performed a study of COTS wireless systems and came to the same conclusion that robot wireless systems should operate in the 400mhz band.  Many TMR researchers are using wireless LANS such as Breezeway that operate in the 2.4ghz ISM band.  Raytheon proposed using a down converter to lower the operating frequency to 400mhz to increase range and performance substantially.

The company has a strong sensor technology background  

There are several environmental sensor requirements for mobil robotics.  What type of surface is the robot operating on?  If the robot is to change the articulation to try to adapt to the surface, sensors are needed to indicate the type of surface it is traversing.

Most robotics researchers use the Polaroid Ultrasonic Transducer in their designs.  This transducer has some very serious drawbacks for robotics applications. 

In 1993 Angelus Research Corp. developed a unique sonar technology that returns the amplitude of the sound echo as well as the distance.  The ARC Intelligent Sonar System (ISS) was designed to address the deficiencies found in the Polaroid Ultrasonic Sensor for robotics applications.

The ARC ISS is a much more robust and reliable than the Polaroid Sonar sensor and will be ideal for use in intelligent compliant robotic systems.

The ARCISS Intelligent Sonar System was designed to address deficiencies found in the Polaroid Ultrasonic Sensor.  Panasonic, Polaroid, Mashushita, and others, manufacture a sealed ultrasonic sensor with separate transmitter and receivers allowing range detection within one inch of the transducer pair.  The ARC ISS uses these sensors and not only returns distance, but the actual aptitude of the received sound level.  This gives an indication of the surface characteristics of the object detected.

Angelus Research Corp. the most Intelligent mobile robots installed...Worldwide

Angelus Research Corp., which began product development 1989 and later incorporated in 1995, is in the business of marketing intelligent mobile robot systems with affordable prices.  The company was founded by Entrepreneur, Don Golding to pursue what he believed as a tremendous opportunity to work in a high technology area that was just beginning like the personal computer in the early 1980’s.

The original goal of the Whiskers robot line was to develop the company’s robotics technological base.  This line of relatively small robots was originally designed as research platforms for the robotics research community.  But as many technology businesses have learned in the past, you often find a much larger market for your products in other areas not originally considered.  In Angelus Research’s case, this market was the technology education area.  Teachers wanted a product to excite students to pursue technical careers; it had to be very rugged, easy to learn, and expose the students to technologies of the future.  Since the Whiskers line of robots uses the TOS operating system and the English like Whiskers Control Language, the robots were fun and easy to learn.  Students learn to program these robots in typically two weeks without any previous programming experience.

Commercialization Strategy

The company will apply these technologies to enhance and benefit existing and future products.  The company has many contacts in the military establishment interested in the companies current and future products, and we are currently beginning to develop a market in law enforcement as well.

Military applications include: remote unmanned reconnaissance, automated target recognition, live fire mission support, and even real-time bomb damage assessment at the target.  Further military benefits will include the increase capabilities in robust command, control, communications and intelligence activities on the battlefield.

Potential dual use applications for military and law enforcement include: unmanned reconnaissance, hostage rescue operations, bomb disposal applications, collapsed structure missions, and Urban Search and Rescue activities.

Key Personnel

Don Golding-President- Angelus Research Corp./Principle Investigator-Don Golding has a broad multi-disciplinary technical and product development background, with over ten years experience in the intelligent robotics field.

Engineering background: real-time systems including: digital, analog, and video electronic design, vision system integration, mechanical design, RF System Integration, software design and computer programming in real-time systems and Windows.  Recently he completed an engineering extension course at UCI in the VHDL language for custom integrated circuit design (FPGAs).

Don Golding has attended most of the latest DARPA TMR IPR’s giving him the knowledge and contacts associated with the work being done in the current TMR program.

Bill Winchester-Chief Operations Officer -Technical expertise includes developing tooling and manufacturing processes for advanced composites and plastics for military and covert applications.  He has over 20 years of experience in the areas product design, development, and manufacturing systems.   Mr. Winchester has previously worked as a Senior Research Engineer and Supervisor for Manufacturing Operations at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Inc.

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