A Payload, Controller and Communications Toolkit for Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles

The use of small unmanned ground vehicles in both military and civilian operations is rapidly growing. Unfortunately, vendors today only offer their own proprietary Operator Control Units and vehicle payloads that can only be used with their vehicle platform. The objective of this Phase I effort is to design a toolkit of common and interchangeable components for small unmanned ground vehicles to perform a variety of tasks such as grasping, carrying, digging, etc. The Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle Infrastructure Toolkit will include one or more manipulator and end-effector designs to accomplish a number of tasks, an Operator Control Unit that allows an operator to customize a controller of his choice for the manipulator device in a context sensitive fashion, and non-RF communication alternatives that the operator can select given the nature of the task. The interchangeable, plug-and-play nature of the toolkit will increase productivity by decreasing training time, improving operator skill, and simplifying logistics and maintenance. The deliverables will be prototype designs of the manipulator payloads, a prototype customizable Operator Control Unit, and a market survey of current non-RF based communication technologies.