SBIR Phase I: Precise Magnetic Tracking of Robotic/Virtual Reality Systems

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*** 9660797 Matthews This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a novel magnetic sensing technique that can be used in a variety of robotic and virtual reality operations to sense local positional accuracy to a very high degree of precision. By fixing an array of inexpensive magneto-resistive sensors to a nearby reference surface and attaching small transmit coils to the moving parts, robotic (or human) actions can be very accurately tracked, monitored and stored for future review. The position and orientation of each transmit coil with respect to the reference surface can be independently measured, with an expected positional accuracy of about one millimeter and rotational accuracy of better than one degree. The Phase I effort would be directed toward building a prototype system to further define the operational parameters and expected performance of such a system. Commercial applications include robotic control, virtual reality, telepresence (i.e., the combination of robotics and virtual reality), monitoring human performance (e.g., head, hand movements), and training. In the military, training systems and man-in-the-loop targeting applications would benefit from such a low cost, robust capability. With further development, detecting and tracking of larger objects such as concealed weapons (law enforcement need), cars/trucks (Intelligent Vehicle/Highway System applications) and airplanes over hundreds of meters will be possible. ***