Man-Wearable Control Units for Military Robotics

Sunday, February 01 2009

It is no secret that robots are rapidly asserting themselves in today’s military applications. For the duration of the Iraq War, robots have roamed the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah, and other Iraqi cities. And, last summer, we saw the introduction of the first-ever armed robots being deployed into battle — the “special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system” (SWORDS) robots come equipped with M249 machine guns and were designed not just for reconnaissance, but also warfare.

These robots, however, have yet to fire their weapons because of concerns over friendly fire and civilian casualties. The Army, interested in the ways that robots could aid in fighting, has yet to become comfortable with the security of using robots in more than a support and reconnaissance capacity.

Part of the reason for this concern has to do with the way that robots are being controlled on the battlefield today. Historically, robots have been controlled from afar, by a pelicancase- based controller. In this scenario, robot operators are stationed remotely and control the robot using cameras, audio feedback from a fire team, and other cues. While this method has the advantage of keeping the human operator away from the dangers of the battlefield, it severely limits the operator’s ability to understand what is happening on the ground and make rapid tactical decisions. It is this disconnect, at least in part, that is responsible for much of the concern the Army has regarding robots being used for shooting or other quick-action tasks. A better option for robotic control — and one that has gained traction in recent military tests — is for the operator control unit to be worn by a member of the fire team. This approach, though not without limitations, provides the operator with a more up - front perspective and the ability to make safer and more accurate decisions than the remotely-positioned operator.

Test Case for Man-Wearable Control Units

Last summer, the Army Robotic Systems Joint Project Office (RSJPO) hosted an event at Fort Benning that was instructive regarding the future of military robotics. Formed as a joint venture between the Army and Marine Corps, the RSJPO showcased a pair of armed robots and explored their usefulness as assets to an assault fire team.

The first robot was the Army’s MAARS robot (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System), developed by Foster Miller (see Figure 1). The MAARS robot leveraged the traditional approach to operator control, stationing a remote controller away from the fire team. While the robot was effective in achieving many of its objectives, the remotely stationed pelican- case controller revealed a couple of limitations. First, one member of the fire team had to be stationed remotely. This meant that this fire team member could not be on the ground to coordinate mission specifics and work with his team. It also meant that the controller was stranded in another location — theoretically, if not practically, alone and in danger as the rest of his fire team was completing a mission. The second issue was the communication lag that existed between the fire team members close to the robot and the operator stationed remotely. Like an elementary school game of telephone in which students struggle to maintain the meaning of a message as it is passed from one student to the next, the operator had to interpret the suggestions and comments from other fire team members on the ground. These two problems signaled not a problem with the MAARS robot, but rather, the manner in which it was being controlled.

The second robot being evaluated was the Marine Corps’s Gladiator robot (developed by Carnegie Mellon), shown in Figure 2. This robot leveraged a man-wearable control unit in which a member of the fire team was able to directly control the robot via a system worn on his vest. Not only did this improve the speed and accuracy with which the robot could be controlled, but it also improved the cohesiveness and effectiveness of the fire team. The controller, no longer stationed remotely, could perform other duties as part of the fire team when not busy controlling the Gladiator robot.