LOGAN, UT -- Autonomous Solutions today announced it has begun a program with the EOD Robotics Group at ARDEC (Picatinny Arsenal, NJ) to transition its real-time 3D visualization technology to the MTRS Talon.

This suite of sensors and software enables an EOD technician to have a real time 3D ‘bird’s-eye’ view of the target environment and the robot’s position in it. The resulting enhanced situational awareness will enable users to more easily and quickly perform complex driving and manipulation tasks.

The underlying technology was developed by Autonomous Solutions under contract with NAVEODTECHDIV using the iRobot Packbot as the initial development platform. The technique fuses 3D point cloud data from stereovision, lasers, or other 3D sensors, with 2D camera images to create a textured ‘3D photograph’ – almost like having a CAD model of the world, viewable from any angle. As the robot moves through its environment, 3D data is stitched together to create a 3D map of the robot’s route. The resulting world model can be used for situational awareness, for measuring objects and distances in the world, and for enabling manipulation and navigational autonomy.

Autonomous Solutions will develop its implementation for the Talon robot with the help of engineers at the ARDEC EOD Robotics Group, who have developed their own interface to the base platform. The resulting retrofit package will have a minimal impact on the base platform. It will feature low power consumption, low weight, and minimal logistics footprint. Its use will result in no loss of current functionality, and it will be easily installed in the field.

“It’s an important part of ASI’s mission to transition the results of our research projects into products that can help soldiers in the field. Our intent is to be in a position to offer a cost-effective retrofit package for the Talon robot by the end of the year”, said Mel Torrie, CEO of Autonomous Solutions.

Autonomous Solutions is a market leader in vehicle automation, multi-vehicle command and control, and SAE-JAUS implementation. ASI has successfully delivered hundreds of unmanned vehicle systems on nearly 50 different types of vehicle platforms for both military and commercial applications on vehicles ranging from 2 lbs to 300 tons.

Autonomous Solutions
15.02.2010