ADVANCING THE STATE-OF-THE-ART
IN AERIAL ROBOTICS YET AGAIN
The new 6th Mission is
an extension of the 5th Mission theme of autonomous indoor flight behavior,
however the 6th Mission will demand more advanced behaviors than are
currently possible in any existing aerial robot. The 6th Mission will
once again be held at the University of Puerto Rico - Mayagüez (UPRM)
coliseum during August of 2010 with an initial prize award set at $10,000
and growing by an additional $10,000 for each year that the mission
remains uncompleted. Interdisciplinary teams from around the world
are encouraged to take on the IARC challenge and make application to
the 6th Mission of the AUVSI International Aerial Robotics Competition
as it enters its 20th year as THE world's PREMIER aerial robotics
challenge that time and again has advanced the state of the art in
aerial robotic behavior.
The 6th Mission continues to adhere to the Competition's
long standing practice of posing tasks that cannot be completed with
current technology and skills. As with previous missions, nothing
within the World military or industrial arsenal of robots is
able to complete the proposed mission at the time the guidelines
are released.
Results of the 5th IARC Mission
In an outstanding performance, a team of nine students from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) won the 5th Mission of
the AUVSI International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC) which
was held on the campus of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
(UPRM).
Of the ten teams officially registered in the Competition, a field
of seven attended the 19th annual event. Of those seven, three teams
were finalists that competed in the UPRM coliseum on the 22nd of
July, 2009. Going head-to-head was the Georgia Institute of Technology,
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. Each team had a different approach to solving the
challenge posed by the 5th Mission, not only in terms of aerial robot
configuration, but also the strategy for sensing and navigation apart
from GPS cues.
The Embry-Riddle team developed a unique "monocopter" which
had a single rotor blade and an opposing ducted fan (see figure).
Although the team did not win the Competition, it did win an award
for the "Most Innovative Air Vehicle". Georgia Tech approached
the mission with a coaxial rotor helicopter that used a wall-following
algorithm to search for the target within the hallways and rooms
of the arena. MIT used a four-propeller "quad rotor" design
that had a laser scanner to create a map of its surroundings as well
as an optical system to aid in relative motion of the air vehicle.
In the end, this proved to be the
most robust solution, allowing the MIT aerial robot to navigate hallways
and rooms while avoiding obstacles. Even so, MIT was unable to find
the target (a particular nuclear power plant control panel gauge)
until minutes before its final fourth attempt timed out. The MIT
aerial robot was able to be launched under JAUS control, report its
position while creating a map of its surroundings and progress (see
figure), and ultimately encountered the target which it successfully
identified and photographed, sending pictures back to the Judges.
For their stellar performance, the MIT team was awarded the $10,000
IARC prize, and for completing the entire mission during the first
year of the 5th Mission will, according to the Official Rules, receive
its $1,000 entry fee back as part of the incentive program to encourage
teams to put forth their best performance during the first year of
the mission. In fact, this is the first time in the past 19 years
of the IARC that any team has ever won during the first year of the
mission. In 1995 Stanford University completed the 1st Mission on
their first appearance at the IARC, but that was four years into
the mission. In 1997 a team from Carnegie Mellon University completed
the 2nd Mission on their first appearance at the IARC, but again,
this was not achieved until the second year of the mission.
Embry-Riddle "Monocopter" (inset
shows flight)
Georgia
Tech Coaxial Helicopter
MIT
Monitoring Progress on its Computer Cluster
MIT
Map Generation and Vehicle Path
MIT
Quad-Rotor Vehicle Entering Window
Winners
in front of the Nuclear Control Panel
IARC competitors and staff • photo taken from
an MIT MAV at the awards banquet
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