a quarterly research & development journal volume … · 2020. 9. 3. · summer • 2001 a...

SUMMER • 2001

A QUARTERLY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT JOURNALVOLUME 3, NO. 1

ALSO:

New Systems for Countering Terrorism

Meeting the Logistics andDemilitarization Challenges

A QUARTERLY RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT JOURNALVOLUME 3, NO. 2

COUNTERINGEMERGING THREATS

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S A N D I A T E C H N O L O G Y

Dear Readers:

Developing technologies that helpprotect our nation from threats at homeand abroad is no small task. Whetheron a foreign battlefield or in a high-traffic government building in America,we must have the means to thwart orminimize harm, and that typically meansmaintaining technological superiorityover our potential enemies. SandiaNational Laboratories, a nationalsecurity laboratory, is developing abroad range of technologies to addressthat need.

This issue of Sandia Technologyoutlines some of those technologies,which encompass Sandia’s work inrobotics, computing, integratedmicrosystems, and biotechnology.Integrating disparate technologies intopractical, effective systems that bolsterAmerica’s national security is Sandia’sstrength.

Today’s advanced technologies—chemical, biological, nuclear, andinformation warfare—pose threats ofgreater harm than ever to the nation. Asthis issue shows, superior technologies,developed for the purposes of defense,can detect, locate, characterize, defendagainst and, if necessary, destroy thesethreats.

Sandia remains ready to provideour nation with the technical capabilityto respond to threats against our armedforces, our citizens, or our survival asa free nation.

Chris MillerEditor

FROM THEE d i t o r

TABLE OFC o n t e n t s

I N S I G H T SRobotic beasts and machines

by Dr. Mark L. SwinsonActing Director, DARPAInformation Technology Office

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4

8

14

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Countering Emerging ThreatsTechnologies for AsymmetricalWarfare, Protection of our HomelandAnd Future Warfighting

Developing Technologies forAsymmetrical Warfare andHomeland Defense

Fielding New Systems forCountering Terrorism

Meeting the Logistics andDemilitarization Challenges

Modeling and SimulationWho knows what evils lurk in the pathsof robots?

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n an age with only one inter-

national superpower, the quest for

a peaceful and free world faces one

great leveler: technology. Sandia

National Laboratories has been

working to achieve and maintain

national technological superiority

in weapons systems since its

founding in 1949. Sandia applies

advanced science and engineering

to give our National Command

Authorities (the President and the

Secretary of Defense or their duly

deputized alternates or successors)

the capability to detect, repel and

defeat threats to our national

security, whether on the battlefield,

against our homeland, or arising

from abroad.

Historians have argued for a

second leveler: the passage of time.

Today, news from the battlefield is

instantaneous and diplomacy

moves swiftly. Satellite television

crews were on the beach at Grenada

and Panama, on the rooftops of

Baghdad, and on the streets of

Mogadishu and Kosovo.

The 20th century showed that

regional powers could become

international powers (or threats)

virtually overnight, many times by

using superior or at least disruptive

technology, at other times with

ideological or abject terrorism. The

threat of superior technology shap-

ed policies of regional and global

dominance. Achieving and sustain-

ing technological superiority is a

critical national mission—

technological parity among nations

has led to massive regional and

global conflicts.

With the widespread availability

of advanced technology, waging

peace is more difficult than ever.

National preparedness depends in

part upon increasing both the depth

and scope of our technology-based

defenses. While today’s advanced

technologies—particularly in the

areas of chemical, biological,

nuclear, and information warfare—

pose threats of greater harm than

ever to the nation, the same

technologies can detect, locate,

characterize, defend against, and

if necessary, destroy these threats.

CounteringEmerging Threats

Technologies for Asymmetrical Warfare,Protection of our Homeland and Future Warfighting

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Technological Superiorityin a New Era

Sandia is now applying the vaststorehouse of weaponization andsystems integration knowledge toemerging threats. This work appliesnot only to the transformation of ourarmed forces into a mobile, techno-logically superior warfighting force,but also to solving new problems ofasymmetrical warfare and homelanddefense against the possibility ofincreasingly sophisticated terroristattacks. Sandia’s work is helping Americasecure a more peaceful and freer worldthrough technology. Our scientists andengineers conduct basic research thatsupports our nuclear weapons missionwith technologies immediately ap-plicable to emerging threats. At thestrategic level, our experts on nuclearsafeguards and global intelligence

support our nuclear mission, provideguidance and support to many agenciesto combat proliferation, and supressattempts at regional supremacy, terror-ism, and threats against our armedforces and homeland.

An Integrated Effort

Past issues of Sandia Technologyhave focused on our world-leading rolein developing and fielding micro-systems and on our nonproliferationprograms. All of these efforts contributetechnologies and expertise used tocounter emerging threats. Today, microsystems and the next-generation development of nano-systems are providing tiny sensors,actuators and microlocks for robotsnot much bigger than a large insect.Micro- and nanosystems play a largerole in most of the systems Sandia is

developing and fielding for counteringemerging threats. Sandia incorporatesstate-of-the-art integrated microsystemsinto flexible systems as small as a grainof rice for both national security andcommercial applications. These tinysystems, used as accelerometers, actu-ators, chemical and biological sensors,strain gauges and for other electro-mechanical tasks, replace older systemsthat were the size of suitcases. Theyare seamlessly integrated into flexiblesystems large enough to apply coatingsto aircraft or, in our Hexapod, tomanufacture complex parts about thesize of a compact car—with precisiondown to nanometers. Likewise, the emerging threatsprograms can use or easily adapt sen-sors and systems integration technolo-gies from nonproliferation programsfor the purposes of future warfightingand homeland defense. Activities suchas intelligence gathering and analysisshare common technologies whethertheir purpose is international treatyverification or battlefield superiority.Sandia’s ability to develop and integratetechnologies into delivered systems isthe focus of the following articles. Many of the technologies in thisissue were invented and developedthrough Sandia’s Laboratory DirectedResearch and Development (LDRD)program, most in support of theDepartment of Energy’s Defense,Nonproliferation and Basic EnergyResearch Programs.

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S A N D I A T E C H N O L O G Y[

This image shows a ratcheting system fabricated in the five-level technology. Twentyof these gears fit on a period in a newspaper sentence.

Today, micro-systems and thenext-generation

development of nano-systems are providingtiny sensors, actuators,

and microlocks forrobots not much

bigger than alarge insect.

[


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In the nation’s entire defense

complex, Sandia has played a unique

role by taking complete responsibility

to make concepts, such as advanced

nuclear designs, into deliverable

systems. As awesome as modern

nuclear explosives are, it was Sandia

that made the concepts into deliver-

able weapons, designing and inte-

grating about 6,500 of a modern

weapon’s 6,800 components. Today,

that intense development and systems

integration work continues in ways

beyond stockpile stewardship. It is

concentrated on the transformation

of today’s national defense forces.

Directed Energy Weapons

Without question, directed energysystems will be the weapons fordominance on future battlefields andin less-than-battle situations. Imaginea bullet that travels at the speed oflight, has a range of several hundredmiles or more, and still packs enoughwallop to disintegrate a half-ton,hardened warhead traveling at 18,000miles per hour. That is the goal of theU.S. Air Force Airborne Laser project.Sandia is contributing key concepts,materials and expertise to this andother directed energy projects. Hittinga target about the size of a large trashcan from hundreds or even thousandsof miles away requires extraordinary

precision. Adaptive optics that correctfor atmospheric distortions are justone part of Sandia’s contributions.Sandia lasers with pulses in thefemtosecond range (light travels .003millimeters in a femtosecond) areanother. A third is Sandia’s capabilityto fuse and manage, in real time, thevast amounts of targeting and guidancedata. Beyond high-energy bullets, Sandiais developing a wide range of systemsfor electromagnetic warfare anddefense. Sandia also is developingstrategic wide-band technologies thatwill disrupt an adversary’s totalcommunications system, and narrow-band technologies to disrupt specificdata channels. Tactical systems to cutspecific infrastructure links havealready been demonstrated. Coupledwith Sandia technologies for spoofingand anti-spoofing—deceiving anadversary’s systems and defeatingattempts to deceive our own—thesesystems will give a theater orbattlefield commander new weaponsand defenses for future warfare. Directed energy systems will playan increasing role in militaryoperations other than war and indefending our homeland againstterrorism. Non-lethal systems basedon microwaves or lasers will replacetear gas for dispersing riotous crowdsor delaying attacks on sensitivefacilities. A microwave system thatproduces the sensation, and only thesensation, of intense burning at a rangeof several hundred yards has alreadybeen demonstrated. While causing nopermanent damage, the sensation,

according to one volunteer, “issomething that you only want toexperience once in your lifetime.”

Difficult Targets

Difficult targets include hardened,deeply buried underground facilitiesused to manufacture and storeweapons of mass destruction, re-locatable targets such as Scud missilelaunchers, and small incoming war-heads from theater or strategic missilesystems. In every case, authoritiesresponsible for defeating difficulttargets need technologies that enablefast, often real-time, and overwhelm-ingly effective responses to complexand diverse early indications of po-tentially catastrophic threats. Sandiais developing a variety of technologiesand capabilities that meet the chal-lenges of these threats. These capa-bilities include:• automatic target recognition• data fusion• decision aids and predictive tools• detection of underground

facility construction• global situational awareness• instrumentation• novel warheads, including

penetrators• robotics• sensor technology, including

synthetic aperture radars andunattended ground sensors

• signal processing• system integration

Developing Technologiesfor Asymmetrical Warfare and Homeland Defense

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Ballistic MissileDefense System

Because Sandia designed most ofthe components of the nation’s nuclearstockpile, it possesses a vast storehouseof knowledge about warhead flightcharacteristics, various signatures andbehaviors. Further, its five-decade rolein national security assessments givesit even more knowledge of adversaries’designs and potential capabilities.Today, Sandia uses this knowledge todesign and build realistic targets forNational Missile Defense tests. Thiswork includes smart, instrumentedtargets, modeling and simulation oflethality effects, and technologiesassociated with countermeasures.Sandia also prepares and launchestarget missiles from its Kauai TestFacility.

Swarm Behavior—orCollective Intelligence

By observing swarms of insects,schools of fish, and flocks of birds,Sandia researchers have developedrevolutionary new approaches torobotics and solutions to systemsproblems. One hardly considers an antor a bee to be capable of a logical,systematic approach, yet these insectshave developed highly sophisticated

communications and tasking capabil-ities to find and transport food and todefend their nests. At Sandia, this swarm behavior isbeing successfully applied to roboticvehicles equipped with a wide arrayof sensors, manipulators, and evenweapons. To work collaborativelyrequires Sandia’s highly refinedsystems integration capabilities. Notonly must the sensors and instrumentscollect and process data while operatingin an unstructured environment, theswarm must be able to communicateand then make decisions about howbest to accomplish its mission—andsometimes that decision is to call in aperson to make a judgment. Sandia has demonstrated swarmbehavior—actually swarm intel-ligence—in unstructured environmentssuch as guarding a perimeter, inter-cepting an intruder, searching abuilding or a warehouse for intrudersor harmful substances, or finding skiersburied in an avalanche. Sandia’s“Snowbots” were able to locateavalanche victims four times fasterthan humans with trained dogs. The key to Sandia’s success isworld-leading expertise in robotics andthe information disciplines required todistribute decision making across avirtually unlimited array of platforms,sensors and instruments, all the whileproviding the systems environmentthat holds the swarm together.

Sandia’s “Snowbots” were able to locateavalanche victims four times faster

than humans with trained dogs.

In support of the Strategic Defense Initiative in the late 1980s, Sandia used modified Polaris missilesto deliver targets from the Kauai Test Facility.

Information Securityand Warfare

Exactly when is a system secureagainst credible threats? Deciding thatrequires dedicated expertise on boththe attacking and defending side. Callit cyber-war games. When it comes to a nuclear weaponsystem, Sandia has developed thesystems and measurements needed tosay, with certainty, “There is less thana one in a billion chance that this un-desired effect will happen over thisperiod of time.” Can we apply the same techniquesto our burgeoning information systems?The technological wave of computingand telecommunications enables newscience and engineering capabilities,but it also harbors threats. Desktopcomputers linked in both structured


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The “hopper” is a small device with a unique combustion engine that lets it hop into position. It hasintelligence, communications, and a self-awareness of its position and orientation. If a number ofthese were deployed as a defensive perimeter system and some of them were destroyed, others couldre-deploy themselves to keep the perimeter fully covered. For planetary exploration, they can replacevehicles because they can travel great distances and surmount obstacles much more efficiently.

Cooperating squads of robotic vehicles may some day be employedfor tasks such as fighting forest fires, cleaning up oil spills, deliveringand distributing supplies to remote field operations, and conducting avariety of military missions. In a Tactical Mobile Robotics program forthe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Sandia demonstratedthe capability to remotely surround a facility with a squad of mobilerobotic vehicles. This proof-of-concept scenario involved a squad of sixRATLER™ mobile robotic vehicles. These carbon composite electric all-wheel drive vehicles are about the size of two bread boxes. A passivecentral pivot connecting the two halves provides a simple but effectivesuspension. Software on the vehicles accepts and processes path,obstacle, and goal perimeter information and executes the missionautonomously. The RATLERs and their remote base-station began the scenario twohundred meters from the target facility. To complete the mission, thevehicles had to autonomously navigate terrain typical of the desertSouthwest, including crossing a deep ravine, negotiating tumbleweedsand other thick brush, and following man-made tracks. Several of thevehicles then surrounded the perimeter near the rear exit of the facilitywhile other vehicles entered the main entrance to create a diversion. A single operator was able to plan and execute the entire six-vehiclemission using the remote command station.

Swarms of microsystems-equipped robots use collective intelligence toperform tasks thought impossible only four years ago. Nearly indestructible,they sense, think, and communicate with each other and act in concert toaccomplish a mission. Recent developments that replaced batteries withsmall fuel cells have tripled their range.

Surround and Diversion by aSquad of Mobile Robotic Vehicles

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networks and in near-chaotic networks(a.k.a., the Internet) have replaced theisolated computer room. Most of the nation’s defense systemswere built without the infamous “backdoors” of some commercial systems,and tested against then-known threats.But that doesn’t mean that a determinedadversary can’t find a little crack in afoundation and, like a termite, find away to undermine a core system.

The Red Team and SoftwareImmunology™

Over the past two years, a groupknown informally as the Red Team(formally, the Information DesignAssurance Red Team, or IDART) haseither successfully invaded or devisedsuccessful mock attacks on 35 out of 35information systems. The Red Team’s successes show howhard it is to protect our informationsystems against a determined attack.The team surmounted traditional

defenses such as passwords, firewalls,filters, activity monitoring, and traps,and eventually found some avenue andmethod to compromise a system. The Red Team’s most formidablefoe also came from Sandia. Suppose thesystem, like the human body and otherliving beings, had built-in defenses thatcould detect and destroy intruders? Using the cross-disciplinary approachthat is the mark of many Sandiadiscoveries, Sandia scientists theorizeda computer defense system that acted

like the human immunological system.These software agents, much like whiteblood cells patrolling our vascularnetwork, were native to the system, sothey knew when events were normaland passing entities were doing theirgainful work. But once an agent detectedan intruder, or something going wrong,not only would the agent attack, it wouldimmediately sound the alarm for otheragents. These other agents could be likeit or tailored for other defensive pur-poses, but the end is the same—theintruder or unexpected event is im-mediately isolated and flagged, and itslinks to any computer process cut off. While still under development,Software Immunology and its under-lying development principles have beenrecognized by the National Academy ofSciences as a topic worthy of the desig-nation Formal Methodology—the firstsoftware technique ever accorded thatscientific designation.

[ Using the cross-

disciplinary approachthat is the mark of many

Sandia discoveries,Sandia scientists

theorized a computerdefense system that acted

like the humanimmunological system.

[


Sandia’s Information Design Assurance Red Team seeks out weaknesses in computing systems.


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A Basic Defense:Decontamination Foam

Biological and chemical agents,whether engineered as weapons, oraccidentally released as in Bhopal,India, in 1984, are the worst nightmaresfor emergency planners. In addition tothousands of naturally toxic compoundsare others specifically engineered asnerve gasses and blister agents. Maintaining a stockpile of thou-sands of individual neutralizers andantidotes and then deploying the correctones quickly and without causing moreharm is seemingly impossible. ButSandia has developed a single decon-tamination foam that has rendered alltypical chemical and biological agentsharmless. Even more remarkable, thefoam’s basic ingredients come fromhousehold ingredients such as bleach,hair conditioner, and toothpaste. Thefoam is harmless to humans, and canbe sprayed quickly over wide areas.Sandia engineered the foam so that itwill cling to vertical surfaces andmaintain its bulk until washed away. In tests at Dugway Proving ground,Sandia’s decontamination foam scoredfirst among twenty others againstchemical agents, and tied for first amongeight others against biological agents.And Sandia’s foam had two distinctadvantages—it was the only foam used

against both types of agents and, unlikeall others, it required no environmentalassessment whatsoever prior to use. Sandia has licensed the foamtechnology to a number of commercialfirms, which are developing it for usessuch as mass decontamination, spills,and hospitals. It has been deployed asa preventive measure at presidentialdebates and a political convention.Small systems that look like a twincanister fire extinguisher are alreadyon the market for $29.95, and couldwell become standard issue for police,fire, and emergency vehicles.

Stand-off Chemical andBiological Detection

The intentional release of a deadlychemical agent occurred most recentlyin a Tokyo subway when in 1995 aterrorist group released sarin nerve gas.Over the past 80 years, chemical andbiological agents have been releasedmany times in warfare, on the battlefieldand among civilian populations, despiteall conventions of warfare. Faroutnumbering incidents of barbaricterrorism, industrial accidents rangefrom a single slightly sickened workerto blasts of volcanic gasses that haveannihilated cities. There is little doubtthat many of these will happen again.

Fielding New Systems for

Countering TerrorismSandia not only develops new technologies for national security but plays a leading role in working with industry

and government agencies to field tools and systems in use today. From simple but effective decontamination

foams to worldwide systems for locating hard to find threats, Sandia technologies are playing a role as the

nation defines its future warfighting and homeland defense strategies.

While it seemsimpossible, Sandia has

developed a singledecontamination foamthat has rendered alltypical chemical and

biological agentsharmless.

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The ability to rapidly identify adangerous compound from a distancehas benefits, whether on the battlefieldor responding to a terrorist act. Toooften, first responders lack the properinstruments and training, and canbecome victims themselves. One of the “Grand challenges”posed to DOE national laboratories isfielding a handheld system equivalentto a fully staffed analytical laboratory.Sandia’s µChemLab™ has success-fully passed tests for a number ofchem/bio agents and against commoninterferrants, or substances that blockdetection of the harmful agents. TheµChemLab™ uses an array of micro-technologies such as filters, piping,and detectors that are molecularly sizedor engineered. In the hands of a firstresponder, it will identify which ofthousands of substances might bepresent in the air or water. Sandia realizes that evenµChemLab™ has limitations. Supposean environment is too hazardous forhumans, or it would take too long todeploy on-site instruments? Supposeyou were a soldier on a battlefield andsaw a cloud of gas through yourbinoculars? Sandia has demonstratedstandoff detection, or detection froma distance, with a number of

technologies. The microsystems-basedPolychromator could be builtinto that soldier’s binoculars.Through an innovative seriesof incredibly fast micro-mechanical and physics-based steps, the Polychrom-ator sorts through millionsof possibilities and identifiesthe compounds in the gas.That information could bedisplayed in the binocularsand transmitted to commandstations. A dream? Every stepof the system has beendemonstrated except formovable microsystems-based spectral gratings —but

that is a Sandia microtechnology usedin a different way than is being adaptedfor the Polychromator. The Polychromator is only one ofa number of technological develop-ments in standoff detection. LIDAR(LIght Detection And Ranging)systems use scanning methods tosweep a landscape and characterizethe substances in atmospheric plumes.Nonscanning systems provide nearreal-time ranging

and other information—NASA useda Sandia nonscanning system to verifythat the solar panels of the InternationalSpace Station had been perfectlydeployed. Other new sensors are based ontechnologies such as surface acousticwaves and fiber optics for chemicals,quartz resonators for fluids andelectrical or gravity field differences—all based on microsystems.

TECHNICAL CONTACT:Bill [email protected]

The Polychromator isonly one of a number ofexciting technological

developments instandoff detection.

[

[Sandia’s µChemLab™ has successfully passed tests for a numberof chem/bio agents and against common interferrants, orsubstances that block detection of the harmful agents.

This computer image simulates a soldier on a battlefield looking remotely at a gascloud through a pair of binoculars containing the Polychromator chip.

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Bomb Detection andDisablement

Until just a few years ago, bombsquads disposed of most explosivedevices by removing them to a safeplace and setting them off. But justmoving a device, if possible, was in-calculably dangerous. Now bombsquad personnel have a host of newtools—and extensive training to handlebombs in new ways—developed fromSandia technologies. In many situations, Sandia’s bombdisablement systems, such as the PANDisrupter, are used to disable an ex-plosive device by defeating the physicsof an explosion. Sandia has developed techniquesand systems to identify and characterizebombs from a distance in a wide varietyof situations, including technologiesthat can disrupt explosive devices ontrucks or other vehicles.

Turning Robotics Outside In—The SMART Approach toHandling Explosive Devices

In a demonstration area at Sandia,a small robotic vehicle approaches asimulated pipe bomb. An operatorlooking through video camerasmounted on the vehicle and its armssurveys the situation and considers hisoptions. Can the bomb be disabled inplace? Does it have to be moved?What’s the best sequence to performeither task? What tools do I need? Since the first automated machines,the progression of robotics has takenmanual tasks and gradually addedautomation. In a structured environ-ment, this led to successful automatedmachines. For example, numericallycontrolled lathes, directed by metalpunch tapes, turned out extremelysophisticated and precise parts—butcould do nothing more. At

Back in 1994 Sandian Chris Cherry neverwould have guessed his experimental trainingworkshop for bomb squad members, calledOperation Albuquerque, would one day attractthe international pedigree of bomb disablerit does today. That first year 24 bomb technicians, manyfrom New Mexico, participated in a week ofclassroom instruction, hands-on demon-strations, and lifelike training scenariosfocusing on emerging bomb-disablementtechniques and technologies. In 1995 the invitation-only crowd grewto 30, then to 64 in 1997, and by 1999, theyear the City of Riverside, Calif., hosted thefourth conference, the list of 100 attendeeshad to be pared down from more than 250applicants. Many of the world's top disablers werethere—representing bomb squads fromseveral large U.S. cities, federal law

enforcement agencies, and antiterrorismorganizations from some of the world'sterrorism hot spots. As more bomb techs heard about thetraining, more had to be turned away from thechance to learn how new technology couldhelp them stay out of harm's way. As theworkshop's organizer, Chris was in a positionhe didn't enjoy. "This is technology that saves lives," hesays. "It should be made available to anyonewho needs it." So he took the show on the road. Withfunding support from the National Institute ofJustice, Chris is now teaching a series ofsmaller-scale, regional workshops called"Operation America."

Bomb Squad Training

Phil Bennett, left, discusses potentialenhancements to the Albuquerque Police

Department’s bomb squad robot.

The PAN Disupter disables explosive devices bydefeating the physics of an explosion.

some point between manual and fullyautomated, the progress failed, typicallyvery early in the real life, unstructuredenvironments faced by bomb squadpersonnel. In the early ‘90s, Sandia started ona radically different path. Sandia ana-lyzed how fully automated systems andcomponents could operate together andwhere a human may have to intervene. Out of these analyses came tworelated software packages: SMART,the Sandia Modular Architecture forRobotics and Teleoperation; andUmbra, a simulation environment withcapabilities for describing and con-trolling multiple robots, and incorp-orating weather, terrain, and RFinterference modules (see page 17). “Back then our goal was to offloaddetail from the operator of teleoperatedrobotic systems, and to fully exploitrobotics systems, but always under thecontrol of the operator,” said Phil

Bennett, manager of the SMARTprogram. “We were so far ahead of therobotics industry that nobody under-stood our approach. As threats likeimprovised explosive devices grew,we’re getting inquiries from all overthe world.” SMART now consists of modulesfor more than 300 robotic instrumentsand controls, all of which can be puttogether on a computer screen likeassembling LEGO building pieces. Thesystem then generates the computerprograms to operate the custom assem-bly. Working throughout the modulesare robotic functions such as coordin-ated motion, collision avoidance, videotargeting, and automatic orientation,as well as basic robotics rules formovement. For robotics developers,adding modules is a matter of inter-facing existing device drivers into theSMART shell. For operators, SMART reduces time

and effort and provides opportunity forintervention. With current roboticsystems, a simple teleoperation, suchas picking up a pipe bomb, takes fromthree to six minutes. Adding onlySMART robotics functions cuts thetime in half and reduces operatoranxiety. Adding more of SMART, suchas visual targeting and automatic pathplanning, cuts the time again, up tothe limits of the robot’s speed ofmovement.

TECHNICAL CONTACT:Phil [email protected]

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SMART now consists of modules for more than 300 robotic instruments and controls, all of which can be put together on acomputer screen like assembling LEGO building pieces. The system then generates the computer programs to operate the customassembly. Working throughout the modules are robotic functions such as coordinated motion, collision avoidance, videotargeting, and automatic orientation, as well as basic robotics rules for movement.


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Rugged Mobile RoboticSystem for Surveillance and

Reconnaissance

At a 226-acre test range at Sandia, robotic vehicles encounterterrain and obstacles meant to drive their computerized brains crazyand wear out their mechanized hearts. The vehicles range in size fromhobbyshop racers to 10-wheeled heavy trucks and carry anything fromminiaturized sensor packages to mechanical arms capable of extractinglarge bombs from the wreckage of an aircraft. The largest vehicle is Sandia’s Accident Response Mobile ManipulatorSystem (ARMMS). There was a time when an accident involving nuclearweapons or other hazardous materials forced people to risk their livesin recovery and remediation efforts. ARMMS changes that potentiallydeadly scenario. Using a military Humvee for its platform, ARMMS provides a fullrange of capabilities for comprehensive accident response. It can beteleoperated via a single fiber optic cable or a radio frequencycommunication link. An on-board mapping and sensor suite detectsand locates radioactive debris and hazardous gases. Among the smaller vehicles is Marvin, an extremely rugged mobilerobotic system that withstands violent deployment. It can be droppedfrom an aircraft or a speeding truck, be forcefully ejected from a window,or be launched on a missile into extremely rugged terrain. Sandia previously had delivered rugged field-ready systems withSARGE, the Surveillance And Reconnaissance Ground Equipmentrobot. SARGE was the first mobile robotic vehicle to undergo extensiveproof-of-concept testing with a U.S. Army scout battalion at the Ft.

Benning, Ga., U.S. Army Infantry School, and with the U.S. Marinesin an "urban warrior" mock battle exercise in the San Francisco BayArea. Customized technology was used to enable the teleoperated Marvinto survive impact velocities exceeding 75 feet per second, tumble toa stop, and drive away completely intact and operational. Marvin’stechnologies include:• wheels that absorb the shock of landing and spring back to

their original shape• a symmetrical vehicle that can operate either side up, without

complicated self-righting mechanisms• a spin-turn capability so that mission-specific sensor packages

can perform surveillance• a built-in global positioning system (GPS) that shows an overlay

of a Marvin icon on a high-resolution aerial photograph ortopographic map to allow the operator to determine vehicle locationand direct the vehicle to the desired destination

TECHNICAL CONTACT:Keith [email protected]

Marvin, an extremely rugged mobile robotic system, can withstandviolent deployment.

Sandia’s Accident Response Mobile Manipulator (ARMMS).

Locate, Identify and Target the ThreatSynthetic Aperture Radar

Clouds, haze, smoke, and evensmog can blind many airbornesurveillance systems. The nighttimeposes its own problems, requiring theuse of systems with less resolution.Sandia’s small, high-resolution syn-thetic aperture radars (SAR) nowprovide all-weather, round-the-clocksurveillance, with 3-D capabilities. Asynthetic aperture means that theeffective size of a receiver (the “cameralens”) can be greatly expanded byintensive, real-time informationprocessing, which also yields 3-Dinformation. Sandia has reduced the size ofSARs so that small unmanned aerialvehicles (UAVs) can easily carry them.Current UAVs are about halfwaybetween the size of a large modelairplane and a small private plane, andcan fly at altitudes of about 60,000feet for durations of about three days.Future generations of the aircraft willbe smaller, harder to detect, and haveeven greater performance. Hovering over a battlefield, SandiaSARs can provide 3-D field terrainmaps in minutes. Instead of trying tointerpret terrain lines on a flat map,these maps, produced on a rubber-like

material, give fieldcommanders an im-mediate visual repre-sentation of obstacles.

Sensors andSystems for the21st Century

Starting in the 1940swith instruments tomeasure the effects ofnuclear blasts, Sandiahas developed sensorsthat see, hear, and feel

events and substances thousands oftimes more sensitive than humanscould detect. Today’s sensors range fromminiature radio tags that serve astransponders for both friend and foe,to the instruments on board the now-orbiting Multispectral Thermal Imagersatellite, which takes images on 15spectral bands. In between is a vast array of sensorsthat detect such things as changes ingravity or a surface’s response to

electromagnetic energy or the presenceof anti-neutrinos. Sandia’s materialsciences and microelectronics expertisecombine to produce sensors andcomplete systems that are startlinglysmall, are capable of detecting partsper trillion, and can simultaneouslyanalyze thousands of compounds. One of the most promisingtechnologies under development atSandia is ion mobility spectrometry.It is used in the explosives-detectionportal now being deployed at airportsand sensitive facilities. It quicklydetects and characterizes minutequantities of explosives molecules. Singly, these sensors give the nationunprecedented capabilities forsurveillance and intelligence. ButSandia goes many steps beyond sensortechnology. By fusing the data frommany different types of sensors, Sandiadevelops information unobtainablefrom single sources.

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Sandia researcher Bill Hensley checks the Lynx synthetic-apertureradar (SAR) installed on a General Atomics I-GNAT unmanned aerialvehicle.

Sensor-fusion technology—which can identify obscured objects and track, for example, militaryvehicles to show a history of activity at a site—can support nonproliferation and treaty verification.The technology combines independent information collected from multiple sensors to provide a clearunderstanding of one object.

Robotics at Work

The noblest aim of robots has beento keep people out of harm’s way—toperform tasks that are too dangerous,too difficult, or too monotonous forhumans to do safely every time. Early this year at the Mason &Hanger Pantex plant near Amarillo, aSandia-developed robotic systemperformed such a task—it grabbed andmoved a W80 pit across a room. Itwas the first time a nuclear weaponspit had ever been lifted by a robot. Sandia robotic systems also helpnational security by autonomouslywatching for proliferation activitiesand guard nuclear facilities, surveilling and remediating hazardous sites, anddisassembling old munitions. Othersystems—developed at a fraction ofthe cost of a commercial supplier ifone had had the capability—applyspecial coatings for the F-117 Stealthand F-22 Raptor and improve thequality of the Space Shuttle’s mainengines. For industry and medicine, Sandiahas delivered flexible systems thatare now at work performing every-thing from single, repetitive manu-facturing tasks to assisting a surgeon’sprecision and steadiness duringdelicate operations.

Demilitarization

The legacy of past conflicts isstaggering—vast stockpiles of de-caying munitions, millions of landmines, and as discovered early thisyear during the clean up of the oldRocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver,Colo., munitions where they werenever expected to be. Workers at thearsenal found forgotten “bomblets” ofsarin nerve gas. Sandia’s Explosive DestructionSystem (EDS), already at work inEngland destroying leftover WorldWar I munitions, was airlifted to thesite. Using technologies that ex-plosively slice a bomb open and thenquickly neutralize the contents, theEDS safely destroyed all six bomblets. A second Sandia system uses super-critical water oxidation—essentiallysuperheated, super-pressurizedwater—to destroy munitions thatwould damage the environment toomuch if simply detonated. The wastesare destroyed within seconds, pro-ducing such commonplace, and non-threatening, end products as carbondioxide, water, and salts. The U.S. Army is responsible forcoordinating munitions demilitariza-tion for all the military services.

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The Department of Defense has set an ambitious goal of reducing logistics costs by about $20 billion per year, or 25 percent

of current expenditures on logistics. Achieving this goal will require revolutionary new technologies and systems for

how we build, supply, maintain, repair, and eventually retire our defense assets.

Continued on page 16

Sandian Walter Wapman with a robot thatdisassembles old 40mm munition clips.

U.S. F-117A Nighthawks, also known asStealth fighters, swoop largely undetectedthrough radar because their "radar-invisible"paint and angular exterior minimize reflectedsignals. Over the next few years, the fleet ofNighthawks will be refurbished, which includesremoving the aging thin films and coatingsand replacing them with a radar-absorbentpaint that is easier and less expensive to applyand maintain. Any deviation from theNighthawk's exacting surface specifications—even an air bubble or a screw not tightenedexactly to specifications—could result in ablip on an enemy's radar screen. It took five painters and a masking crew4 1/2 days to paint the first Nighthawk. Couldthis process be automated? Nighthawks are large aircraft—65 feet long

with a 43-foot wing span—and each one isslightly different from the others. TheNighthawk's angularity and the need to keepthe paint spray nozzles at precise distancesfrom the aircraft's surface at all times requireboth accuracy and adaptability. Using commercially available robotics,Sandia developed a unique path-planningsystem that adjusts for differences from aircraftto aircraft. Path planning is one result ofSandia's years of research in "geometricreasoning," developed with DOE DefensePrograms and lab-directed research funding.Geometric reasoning gives robots thecapability to automatically determine themovements needed to carry out a task, evenif the work varies from piece to piece. The first robotically painted aircraft took

only three days with a smaller crew. Now inproduction mode, the system saves the AirForce money and time and improves the finalfinish quality. Signature testing on the robot-sprayed aircraft was significantly better thanexpected. According to Col. Samuel Ryals,director of the Air Force's F-117A SystemProgram Office, the system is expected toyield a net cost savings measured in millionsof dollars over the next four years.

TECHNICAL CONTACT:Pablo [email protected]

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From atop a 25-foot ladder, Sandian Larry Shipers examines a pair of cameras that provide feedback to a computer system that controls Sandia’s automatedpainting system for the F-117 Nighthawk, also known as Stealth. The system sprays a thin radar-absorbent coating on the surfaces of the fighters. To testthe system, this cardboard mockup of some of the aircraft’s more hard-to-reach surfaces was constructed in a high bay.

PAINTING THESTEALTH AIRCRAFT

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(continued from page 14

More than 300,000 tones of munitions arecurrently waiting to be demilled, somedating back to World War II. Thisamount is increasing by about 70,000to 100,000 tons per year. Currently,personnel undertake the hazardous taskof disassembling these munitions. When Jim Wheeler, director of theDefense Ammunition Center, decidedto insert flexible automation systemsinto their conventional demil oper-ations, he turned to Sandia's roboticexpertise for guidance. Having alreadysuccessfully solved a similar problem

for DOE with an automated gas gen-erator disassembly system, Sandia wasable to quickly adapt its technologyand system integration capability tocreate a prototype system for the Armythat would disassemble 40mm fixed-round munitions. Within nine months,Sandia designed, developed, delivered,and demonstrated a complex prototypesystem at the McAlester Army Am-munition Plant in Oklahoma. Sandia has joined the demil-itarization effort to rid the world ofland mines. Worldwide, there are anestimated 100 million land mines in68 countries. Those with the worstproblems are Angola, Afghanistan,Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, and the Balkans. Sandia's work in land-mine detectionand demining ranges from chemicalsensing to laying down a quick-hardening foam to clear a path formilitary vehicles. Sandia also is de-veloping robotic vehicles and back-scattered X-ray technologies that canbe used to support the demining effort.

The Sandia team focuses its effortson three types, or levels, of deminingactivities. The first is standard militarydemining used for clearing a path forsoldiers and vehicles during war. Thesecond level, also connected withmilitary operations, deals with anarmy's need to clear greater numbersof mines in an occupied country. Thethird level is humanitarian deminingand tries to remove all mines andrestore an area to productive use.

TECHNICAL CONTACT:Walt [email protected]

Logistics at Sea: Transferring cargoes at sea, in rough waters in harbors, or at offshore platforms hasalways been a difficult and perilous endeavor. Sandia’s swing-free crane technology lessens the hazardsby compensating for pitch, yaw, and roll simultaneously in real time. This not only reduces the dangersbut also greatly speeds up operations such as re-supplying ships at sea.

Aircraft inspection Sandia technologies, such asresonant ultrasound inspections and compositedoubler repairs, improve the quality and savetime for aircraft maintenance. Sandia is workingwith the FAA on a number of new initiatives. Weare studying the entire inspection and certificationprocess so that inspectors will have a betterunderstanding of the aging process, and also ofthe impact of new technologies as they areincorporated into existing and new aircraft. Sandia also is studying the nonstructural parts of aircraft,beginning with wiring degradation, an area ofparticular concern in nuclear environments thatdirectly applies to wiring in aircraft.

When one roboticvehicle encounters atree and decides togo left, will a wholebattalion of tanks onthe other side ofthe mountain gohaywire? Unless other ro-botic vehicles canadjust their paths andcapabilities whilecoping with theirown obstacles, thatbattalion of tankscould suddenly “gobl ind,” or losec r i t i c a l b a t t l einformation andbecome the huntedrather than thehunters. That’s the type ofscenario facingmission planners inexercises for futurewarfighting. Theanswer, and the planners’ confidencein it, depends on the type of modelingand simulation (or mod/sim) system.A traditional mod/sim system is oftenscripted: Robot meets tree. Robotspends 30 seconds to go left aroundtree. Robot is out of communicationfrom seconds 15 through 27. Robotincreases speed to catch up to others… In the real world, the robot maydecide to go right, may never losecommunication, may get stuck in an

endless loop trying to avoid a circleof obstacles, or may tip over andsimply stop functioning. And that’swhere Sandia’s Umbra (Latin for“shadow”) provides answers. Umbratakes real-world data, such as terraininformation from SARs, satellites orthe USGS, and presents the robot witha “reality-based” obstacle—withoutthe script. Umbra’s ability to use real-worlddata in assessing robotic behavior is

just the first level ofmod/sim (see previousarticle on SMART).Once the behaviors ofeach component of asystem are modeled,how will the entiresystem work, especiallywhen confronted,individually and col-lectively, with a be-wildering variety ofreal-world obstacles?Again, Umbra providesanswers, based onmodels that analystsand planners can trust. Simulating an entiresystem of operationsrequires modeling andsimulation capabilitieswell beyond those nowdeployed in centers fortraining, analysis, andmission planning. Theuse of unmanned ve-hicles and unattended

sensors requires a network-centric styleof communications, control, and intel-ligence. This results in large, verycomplex systems that are difficult tosimulate confidently with traditionalscript-based methods. “The performance of robots in thereal world is greatly affected by evensmall obstacles,” said Ray Harrigan,senior manager of the IntelligentSystems Principles department. “Asmall hill can disrupt communications

17


A radical robotics philosophy that’s proven effective in unstructured environments has ledto international demand for Sandia robotics. “We are exploring how little—not how much— we have to tell autonomous robots for them to accomplish a mission,” says Ray Harrigan,senior manager of the Intelligent Systems Principles department. “In path-planning missions,for example, it’s usually better to tell the robotic vehicle only what you want to achieve andlet it figure out the best solution, and how to handle problems. We used to try to figure outthe best solution beforehand and load our solution into the vehicle, along with everyconceivable problem it might encounter on the way. We found out we weren’t very good atenvisioning the obstacles, and that it was better to give the robots basic skills for maneuvering,and let them cope with unanticipated problems.”

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or slow a vehicle by 70 percent ormore. What happens in one small partof a system affects other parts, but therelationship is non-linear.” Warfighting mod/sim systemsinitially focused on coordinating thebehavior of swarms of robots. Umbracontains these behaviors but adds real-world factors such as terrain, obstacles,

network communications loads, andvehicle limits—all based on compu-tational models rather than simulationscripts. Umbra began as laboratory-directedresearch by Sandia computer scientists.Their goal was an abstraction of howlarge, complex systems work. Theydeveloped the concept of “embodied

agents,” software models that couldincorporate real-world geometry,physics for mobility, sensor inputs,robotic instrument capabilities andlimitations, and controller actions.Within the Umbra framework, theybuilt a library of modules for terrain,communications, kinematics and mo-tions, obstacle detection and distancemeasurement, vehicle control laws,and automated planning for vehicleroutes and collision-free robotic actions. Umbra’s framework will link withother mod/sim systems, such as JCATS(Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation)developed at Lawrence Livermore laband used at the Joint WarfightingCenter. “This expands the capabilitiesof both systems,” said Harrigan.“Umbra is a bridge across manytechnologies, so there is a matrix oforganizations interested in using it toexpand their mod/sim capabilities.”

TECHNICAL CONTACT:Ray [email protected].

Sandia’s prowess in modeling and simulation began with two fundamental advances incomputer sciences. The first was the ability to make thousands of processors work togetherefficiently when most computer companies believed that a dozen or so processors were thelimit. This advance resulted in the first teraflops-class computer of the Accelerated ComputingStrategic Initiative (ACSI). The second, perhaps even more fundamental advance was Sandia’sproof that the solutions to large computation problems could be reduced from exponentialto linear methods. Where computer scientists once believed that doubling the size of a problemrequired four times the computer resources to solve, Sandia proved that the solution requiredonly an increment in resources. Without that proof, even teraflops computers would be vastlylimited in the problems they could solve. Both advances won Sandia a Gordon Bell award.Sandia is the only institution to win two of these awards for solving “Grand Challenges” incomputer sciences. ACSI’s goal is to model and simulate the entire life cycle of a nuclear weapon. Using manyof the same computer science tools, other Sandia research efforts in large, very complex,nonlinear systems are drawing interest for battlefield planning, predictive and prognosticmaintenance, emergency response, and critical infrastructure analyses.

Umbra allows planners to simulate swarm behavior with real-world factors such as terrain, communicationsloads and vehicle limits.

Sandia's work with massively-parallelcomputer architectures and algorithmshave boosted the nation's ability tosolve very large problems.

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by Dr. Mark L. Swinson

Acting Director, DARPA Information Technology Office

Robotic beasts and machines

Many of our robots will haveforms dictated by their tasks,environments or even our imagin-ations. We can expect to see roboticinsects, dogs, and birds as well asrobotic cars, boats, and perhapswashing machines. Robotics mayrepresent the greatest unmet tech-nological expectation of the 20th

century, but many of those expec-tations will likely begin to berealized early in this century. Advances in artificial intelli-gence technologies are critical tothis progress. One example is sit-uated machine learning. Rein-forcement learning can be used foran unsupervised, learning-with-critic approach where mappingsfrom precepts to actions are learnedinductively through trial and error.Other approaches may include evo-lutionary methods that begin with

an initial pool of program elements,and then use genetic operators suchas recombination and mutation toproduce successive generations ofincreasingly successful controllers. These approaches (as well asothers) will teach robots to adjustparameters, exploit patterns, evolverule sets, generate behaviors (andaggregations of behaviors), devisenew strategies, predict changes inthe environment, and evenexchange this knowledge with otherrobots. Such robots can acquire newknowledge, as well as adapt existingknowledge to new circumstances,and thereby solve problems in wayswe humans may not understand.Indeed, emergent behavior, ratherthan being suppressed by carefuldesign, may instead be encouragedby equally careful design. As robots become more per-vasive, then like automobiles theyare likely to become increasinglycomplex. Indeed, some robots maybe comprised of millions of parts. If fast, cheap, rapid manufactureof these robots is to occur, it maybe necessary to remove humansfrom the process altogether. JordanPollack and his colleagues atBrandeis University are usingcommercial CADCAM simulatorstogether with a genetic algorithmto evolve the body and brains ofsimple robots. They have suc-ceeded in automatically designing,

improving, and creating a real robotwith only trivial human inter-vention. So far, the work hasfocused solely on creating a robotfor locomotion, but eventually thisapproach may allow cheap, near-perfect solutions to be evolved anddeployed, even for complex tasksrequiring unintuitive solutions.

Humanoid Robots

Humanoid robotics include arich diversity of projects whereperception, processing, and actionare embodied in a recognizablyanthropomorphic form in order toemulate some subset of thephysical, cognitive, and socialdimensions of the human body andexperience, with the goal of creatinga new kind of tool. Such a toolwould be intended to work not justfor humans but also with them.Humanoids will be able to worksafely along side humans in typical,everyday environments, as well asthe more daunting environments ofspace and underseas, and therebyextend our capabilities in ways wecannot at present imagine. Indeed, humanoids may proveto be the ideal robot design tointeract with people. After all,humans tend to naturally interactwith other human-like entities; theinterface may well be hardwired in


Continued on next page

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S A N D I A T E C H N O L O G YS A N D I A T E C H N O L O G Y

continued

our brains. Their human-like, robotbodies will allow them to seam-lessly blend into environmentsalready designed for humans.While we humans have historicallyadapted to the limitations of ourmachines, here the machines willbe designed to adapt to us. Humanoids will not only providea new way for us to interact withmachines, but may also serve as anintuitive filter for humans to interactwith an increasingly ubiquitous andpervasive information environment. Humanoid robots that can incre-mentally acquire new knowledgefrom autonomous interactions withthe environment will accomplishtasks by means their designers didnot explicitly implement (or perhapseven conceive of), and will perhapsthereby be capable of adapting tothe unanticipated circumstances ofan unstructured, dynamic environ-ment. Already, humanoid robotshave demonstrated basic task de-composition necessary to carry outcomplex commands given throughgesture and speech. Humanoidshave also demonstrated the abilityto adapt, to orchestrate existingcapabilities, and to create new be-haviors using a variety of machinelearning techniques. Humanoid robots may wellrekindle a new inspiration for art-ificial intelligence as they motivateresearch toward intelligent, autono-mous systems. Already, a growingnumber of robotics researchers have

found that the human form providesan excellent platform upon whichto enable real-world learning. A‘similar’ body facilitates learningbased upon imitation, by making iteasier to map the human’s actiononto the robot. In fact, it may bethat human-like intelligenceactually requires a human-like body. As a minimum, the anthro-pomorphic form factor of theserobots enables them to easily inter-face with existing technology andinfrastructure with minimal dis-ruption. Hence, humanoids appearto be a uniquely appropriate formfactor by which to gradually intro-duce “intelligent” robots into newapplication domains.

The Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Agency (DARPA) is thecentral research and developmentorganization for the Departmentof Defense.


ON THE COVER:The Mini Intrusion Detection System (MIDS) uses a passiveinfrared sensor that detects an intruder without his or herknowledge. The detector components are designed to be buriedin the ground and can operate for several months using 9-voltbatteries. The detector transmits its particular digital burst toa remote receiving location, allowing for quick identificationof where the intrusion has occurred.

Sandia Technology is a quarterly journal published bySandia National Laboratories. Sandia is a multiprogramengineering and science laboratory operated by SandiaCorporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for theDepartment of Energy. With main facilities in Albuquerque,New Mexico, and Livermore, California, Sandia has broad-based research and development responsibilities for nuclearweapons, arms control, energy, the environment, economiccompetitiveness, and other areas of importance to the needsof the nation. The Laboratories’ principal mission is tosupport national defense policies, by ensuring that thenuclear weapon stockpile meets the highest standards ofsafety, reliability, security, use control, and militaryperformance. For more information on Sandia, see ourWeb site at http://www.sandia.gov.

To request additional copies or to subscribe, contact:Michelle FlemingMarketing Communications Dept.MS 0129Sandia National LaboratoriesP.O. Box 5800Albuquerque, NM 87185-0129Voice: (505) 844-4902Fax: (505) 844-1392e-mail: [email protected]

Sandia Technology Staff:Laboratory Directed Research & Development ProgramManager: Chuck Meyers, Sandia National LaboratoriesEditor: Chris Miller, Sandia National LaboratoriesWriting: Peter NolanDesign: Douglas Prout, Technically WritePhotography: Randy J. Montoya and Lynda Hadley, Sandia National Laboratories

A butterfly rests next to a precision microcomponent made with LIGA (anacronym from German words for lithography, electroplating, and molding)micromachining technology. LIGA is a technique to create a mold on a micronscale. It uses the mold to mass-produce tiny, three-dimensional structuresin a variety of materials including metals, polymers, and ceramics. Sandiahas licensed proprietary LIGA expertise to AXSUN Technologies, atelecommunications firm based in the Boston area.

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a LockheedMartin Company, for the United States Department of Energy

under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000

SAND 2001-1713P

Marketing Communications Dept.MS 0129Sandia National LaboratoriesP.O. Box 5800Albuquerque, NM 87185-0129

PRSRT STDU.S. PostagePAID

Fort Worth, TXPermit No. 4071

“Humanoid robots may well rekindlea new inspiration for artificial intel-

ligence as they motivate researchtoward intelligent, autonomous

systems. Already, a growing numberof robotics researchers have foundthat the human form provides anexcellent platform upon which to

enable real-world learning.”Dr. Mark L. Swinson

Acting Director, DARPA Information Technology Office

a quarterly research & development journal volume … · 2020. 9. 3. · summer • 2001 a...

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