Military
Robotics competition helps Marines select best
cutting-edge controller
Dec. 17, 2014 |
The
'biosleeve' is made by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The sleeve was tested
during the lab's Intuitive Robotic Operator Control Challenge in October. (Marine Corps Warfighting Lab)
Written by
HOPE HODGE SECK
Marines could someday control tactical robots using a
glove that measures electronic signals or a watch that picks up gestures,
thanks to technologies on display at a recent robotics controller challenge
sponsored by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab.
The lab is now in the final stages of selecting at
least one of five cutting-edge technologies to study more closely. That will
include tests with Marines, which will kick off a three-year study of intuitive
controlled robots and their use in combat. At this point, there are lots of
possibilities and few definitive answers, said Capt. James Pineiro, ground combat
element branch head for the lab.
"When you do these things you don't always know
where it leads," Pineiro said. "We do know that autonomy and robotics
can help us. We're trying to figure out how."
At the lab's Intuitive Robotic Operator Control
Challenge, held Oct. 20-24 at the Muscatauck Urban Training Center in
Butlerville, Indiana, the technologies did not only have to impress Marine
officials: they had to demonstrate they could work without disruption amid the
chaotic sights and sounds of war.
During certain trials, the center generated
atmospherics including battle sounds and smoke to test the systems' ability to
understand and respond to commands despite the distractions.
The five technologies in the running include:
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a voice recognition control system that used an open-source voice recognition
library from Carnegie Mellon University.
·
A "biosleeve," also from JPL, that used dry
contact sensors to read electrical impulses in the user's left arm.
·
A wearable glove system from Anthrotronix Inc., with
fine motor sensors.
·
A speech-and-sketch tablet interface that allowed a
robotic system to confirm commands and clarify with the user before following
them.
·
A wrist-worn smartphone that reads gestures from
SoarTech.
The objective was to come up with a system that would
keep an operator from having to stay "head down" in the controls,
Pineiro said and to communicate with a robotic system "in a way comparable
to the way Marines talk in a dismounted squad by visible or signals."
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