Nghia Tran

Advances in Autonomy for Small UGVs

Many advances have been made in autonomy for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) but most of these advances have been for large UGVs only, in that the sensors required for autonomy are typically large, heavy and require a significant amount of power. Because of the size, weight and power restrictions imposed by a man-portable UGV advances in autonomy have been very limited. The SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego) has previously developed a waypoint navigation capability for small robots. That system required an operator to monitor a live video feed from the vehicle to ensure it did not strike any obstacles in its path. Now SSC San Diego in cooperation with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has developed a miniature obstacle detection sensor suitable for small robots. SSC San Diego has also developed the obstacle-avoidance algorithms to navigate autonomously around obstacles.

Wireless communication glove apparatus for motion tracking, gesture recognition, data transmission, and reception in extreme environments

Military personnel need better ways to communicate in hostile, noisy, silence-mandated, and/or extreme environments. Typing on a keyboard is difficult and impractical while wearing comprehensive protective clothing. Wireless data gloves were researched and developed to transmit and receive ASCII code and other signals as hand gestures. Two categories of glove prototypes were constructed: gloves with and without a haptic-IO capability. All data gloves detect motion, such as gestures, using magnetic sensors. Non-haptic gloves only transmit static and dynamic gestures. Haptic gloves have vibro-mechanical devices on the fingertips for feedback about transmitted signals and for covert-signal reception. Many potential communications applications include hazardous and covert military operations, space operations, fire fighting, mining, training, underwater use, and aids for the visually and hearing impaired.