Alex J. Kossett

A robust miniature robot design for land/air hybrid locomotion

The utility of miniature ground robots has long been limited by reduced locomotion capabilities compared to larger robots. Many avenues of research have been pursued to improve ground locomotion to alleviate this issue. In this paper, another option is explored in which a small ground robot is equipped with the ability to fly, allowing it to move to previously unreachable areas if necessary.

Design of an improved land/air miniature robot

Small ground robots remain limited in their locomotion capabilities, often prevented from accessing areas restricted by tall obstacles or rough terrain. This paper presents the improved design of a hybrid-locomotion robot made to address this issue. It uses wheels for ground travel and rotary-wing flight for scaling obstacles and flying over rough terrain.

Coordination and Longevity in Multi-Robot Teams Involving Miniature Robots

Marsupial robot teams offer the ability to augment or replace human-based responses to hazardous scenarios such as search-and-rescue missions or monitoring toxic environments. Coordination and longevity of the members of the marsupial robotic team can quickly become burdensome as the scope of the scenario changes. To facilitate large scale operations, robotic teams must be able to function continuously with limited to no human intervention for scenarios which may not have a pre-determined length at onset. An end-to-end design and implementation of a novel marsupial system where a multi-level hierarchy allows larger robots to transport, deploy, coordinate, recover, and resupply large numbers of smaller deployable systems is outlined. The design and implementation of hardware systems for performing these actions is discussed. In addition, the algorithms which coordinate the team members are presented. Simulation illustrating the scalability of the approach is presented including experiments illustrating a light-weight vision-based autonomous docking capability.

Maximizing Stone Fragmentation Efficiency With Ultrasonic Probes: Impact of Probe Pressure and Rotation

PURPOSE We examined the effects of probe rotation and pressure on stone fragmentation in an in vitro percutaneous nephrolithotomy model. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study was a fully randomized, factorial experiment with 20 repeat trials performed at each combination of variables, yielding a total of 300 trials per device for ultrasonic tests and 360 for ultrasonic/pneumatic combination tests. Varying masses were placed on the hand piece of each device to create a probe contact pressure of 400, 1,000 or 2,000 gm. The impact of rotation was tested only at 0 or 90 degrees and rotating only at a frequency of 2 Hz. Statistical analysis was performed using R, version 2.6.2. RESULTS For the Cyberwand the Tukey HSD test showed that 400 and 1,000 gm probe pressure were significantly more effective than 2,000 gm pressure (p <0.05). The range and frequency of rotation were not statistically significant variables affecting Cyberwand efficiency. For the LithoClast Ultra using only the ultrasonic probe significant differences were found among the 3 pressure levels (400, 1,000 and 2,000 gm, respectively, p <0.05). For rotation 90 degrees were significantly more effective than 0 degrees (p <0.05) at a mean +/- SD stone mass of 0.168 +/- 0.078 and 0.107 +/- 0.09 gm, respectively. For the LithoClast Ultra ultrasonic/pneumatic combination 1,000 gm pressure were significantly more effective than 400 or 2,000 gm (p <0.05). The 6 and 12 Hz pneumatic frequencies outperformed 3 Hz but were not significantly different from each other (p <0.05). CONCLUSIONS Differences in probe manipulation impact stone fragmentation efficiency and procedural success.

More than meets the eye: A hybrid-locomotion robot with rotary flight and wheel modes

Mobility in small ground robots is often improved by novel mechanisms or wheel designs. This can be successful when navigating rough terrain or climbing small obstacles. However, few such robots are capable of scaling obstacles of arbitrary height or traversing all types of terrain. This paper presents a concept for a miniature robot that combines wheeled ground locomotion with rotary-wing flight capabilities, which has the potential to offer the best features of both helicopters and ground vehicles while addressing the aforementioned challenges to mobility.