Miniature mobile robots are desirable for military applications because of their ability to function covertly in highly constrained environments. However, work on such tiny robotic systems has been hampered by the difficulty of packaging locomotion, sensing, computing and power subsystems into diminutive spaces. This paper presents the design and initial prototype of a miniature mobile robot designed to carry out surveillance and reconnaissance missions in an urban environment. This initial prototype is spherical in shape, with a diameter of 5.5 inches, and weighs only 4.5 pounds. A novel inertial steering system, along with the robot's robust control and communication systems, make it useful for covert video surveillance and reconnaissance in tightly constrained spaces.

Urban settings represent a challenging environment for teleoperated and autonomous robot systems. We present a new design for a highly terrain adaptable robot system, detailing the major mechanical, electrical and control systems. The Pandora robot system is a tracked robot system with self-contained computing, power and wireless communications systems. A sensor suite including stereoscopic and panospheric cameras, light-strippers and acoustic sonar-ring(s) allow the system to operate autonomously. Individually adjustable track-modules give Pandora extreme mobility in natural (vegetation, soils) and man-made (roads, steps) outdoor environments as well as indoor arenas (sewers, staircases, etc.). Locomotion was shown successfully over various extreme terrains, including reconfiguration to best suit the terrain and enable future sensor-supported autonomous operations.

A high speed three dimensional radar scanner capable of providing the high resolution range maps necessary for outdoor mobile robotic vehicles is described in this paper. Unlike traditional laser rangefinder based scanners, this sensor is intended to operate in real world environments plagued with dust, fog, and rain. The 94 GHz pulsed time-of-flight radar system has a peak repetition rate of 250 kHz, a 23 cm beam focused at 8m with an effective 1/spl deg/ divergence, and a 180/spl deg//spl times/360/spl deg/ scanned field of view. DSP processing of the range data provides a reduced data rate while taking full advantage of the higher firing rate to improve accuracy and sensitivity to specular and poorly reflective targets.

Dante II is a tethered mobile robot designed for volcano exploration. It has 6 pantographic legs, and is a rappelling robot that uses a tether to support itself on steep terrain, just as a mountaineer uses a climbing rope. The tether is connected to a generator and satellite communication station located at the volcano's rim. The satellite station relays data to and from remotely located operators. This paper describes the issues faced in the design of the tethering system of Dante II, and the approach used to address these issues.

Three generations of past, current and future robotic and automated asbestos pipe-insulation abatement robot systems are described in this paper, including experimental results and their current disposition within the government and commercial market sectors. An on-pipe automated abatement system, dubbed BOA, for the medium and large pipe-bore sizes, has gone through 2 generations. The current system is designed to operate autonomously on pipe-networks with 4-inch diameter pipes, and will see field trials at K-25 in Oak Ridge and Fernald by the spring of 1997. A follow-on system, dubbed PipeTaz, has been proposed to abate small-bore pipe after the piping is cut out of the network. In this paper we detail the first two robot generations, and outline the proposed follow-on PipeTaz system.