Segway Geophysical Tow Vehicle

David HodoDavid BevlyJohn HungBob Selfridge

OverviewCollaboration between Auburn University and the Army Corp of Engineers Huntsville CenterGoal: Provide an easily transportable tow vehicle for various geophysical sensorsSafer and more accurate UXO detection

Background / AcknowledgementsInitial funding from ESTCP (Spring 2006)Transportable Manned and Robotic Digital Geophysical Mapping (DGM) Tow Vehicle: Project MM-200608Continued funding from DERP FUDS MMRP-IT program and the Army Corp Huntsville Center

Capabilities & BenefitsAutonomously control position and speed of a trailer with geophysical sensors.Operated and monitored from distances up to 2 miles.Increased safety and data quality from standard survey methodsHighly repeatable path and speed for comparing sensors and methodologies.

Path FollowingFollows paths consisting of lines and arcsPlaces center of trailer on pathCapable of operation with and without GPS on trailer.

Path PlanningSupports 3 task typesGridsWaypointsSix-line TestsCan pre-plan around (sparse) known obstacles.Grids and obstacles are defined by convex polygons.Direction of travel and speed can be specified for grids.

Simple Path Example

Mission Planner (Screenshot)FenceLakePathGrid

User InterfaceAllows tele-op and autonomous control of the vehicleDisplaysDesired and actual pathsEM sensor data (EM61Mk2 and TM5Emu)System Health (battery voltages, pos. status, etc.)Video feedRemote PC and comm. equipment mounted in rugged Storm Case

User Interface (Screenshot)

Compact, Rugged Control Unit

Major DemonstrationsMcKinley Range, Huntsville, AL numerousAberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD May 2007Camp Sibert: Site 18, AL - Sept 2007SERDP/ESTCP/NAOC Workshop, Denver, CO July 2008Operated by Parsons Corp:Great Salt Plains, OK Dec. 2008 Camp Sibert, AL Jan 2009 Ft. Benning, GA May 2010

Robot with G858 Magnetometer (APG)

Robot with EM61Mk2 Array at GSP

System at Ft. Benning, GA

Sample Map (APG)Mapping at APG with EM61Mk2Results from 4 grids shownGaps are from pre-planned obstacle locations.

ReferencesD.W. Hodo, D. M. Bevly, J. Y. Hung, S. Millhouse, B. Selfridge, Optimal Path Planning with Obstacle Avoidance for Autonomous Surveying. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Pheonix, AZ, November 2010.N. Harrison, B. Selfridge, C. Murray, and D. Hodo, Self-guiding robotic geophysical surveying for shallow objects in comparison to traditional survey methods, Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Environmental and Engineering Problems (SAGEEP), Keystone, Colorado, April 2010.N. Harrison, B. Selfridge, M. Root, C. Murray, D. Hodo, D. S. Millhouse, Self-Guiding Robotic System Surveying and Comparison to Traditional Survey Methods. Proceedings of the UXO/Countermine/Range Forum 2009, Orlando, FL, August 2009.W. Travis, D. W. Hodo, D. M. Bevly, and J. Y. Hung, UGV trailer position estimation using a dynamic base RTK system, Proceedings of the 2008 AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, Honolulu, HI, Aug 2008.D. W. Hodo, J. Y. Hung, D. M. Bevly, S. Millhouse, Linear Analysis of Trailer Lateral Error with Sensor Noise for a Mobile Robot-Trailer System. Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics, Vigo, SPAIN, June 2007.D. W. Hodo, J. Y. Hung, D. M. Bevly, S. Millhouse, Effects of Sensor Placement and Errors on Path Following Control of a Mobile Robot-Trailer System. Proceedings of the 26th Annual American Controls Conference, New York City, July 2007.D. W. Hodo, Development of an autonomous mobile robot-trailer system for UXO detection, Master's thesis, Auburn University, August 2007.