NRI: Small: Robotic Scouts: Augmenting Human Perception for Underground Rescue

机器人是在矿井灾害等地下救援行动中拯救生命的潜在工具。人类救援人员受到屋顶福尔斯坠落、爆炸危险、空气质量、烟尘能见度、精神压力和身体耐力的阻碍。人类救援人员无法在短时间内覆盖足够的距离，往往会对事故受害者造成致命的后果。能够在人类救援人员之前自主侦察并总结环境信息的机器人可以大大增强态势感知能力，使团队能够毫不拖延地向前推进。该提案设想了沉浸式的，机器人创建的3D模型，融合了许多传感器源，并通过烟雾，灰尘，泥浆，洪水和火灾创建。这些扩展模型为救援人员提供了不受环境条件影响的视觉清晰度。照明伪影、传感器噪声和误差通过融合和智能视图规划彻底的新模式（包括LIDAR、RADAR、多光谱成像和主动照明RGB传感）来消除。虽然世界经常被高能见度的地雷事故所吸引，但机器人是有形的工具，具有可见的效果，有机会成为任何救援工作的核心。第一个被困矿工的发现和救援机器人拯救人类生命的破坏性影响将激励无数人欣赏科学和技术在我们生活中不断发展的作用。该团队之前的地下机器人工作已经产生了相当大的压力，并开始接受机器人技术，即使是最不愿意改变的行业。调查人员将继续通过媒体露面、学校儿童的实验室和矿井图尔斯参观以及科学博物馆的现场演示来推动机器人的发展。该项目将支持各级教育，包括支持CMU机器人博士后和研究生研究，雇用本科REU实习生，并为CMU的移动的机器人设计课程开发课程。这项研究的贡献将影响从地下生产到公民检查和国防等行业的自动化。

Robots are potential tools for life saving in underground rescue operations like mine disasters. Human rescuers are thwarted by roof falls, explosion dangers, quality of air, visibility through smoke and dust, mental stress and physical endurance. The inability of human rescuers to cover sufficient distance in a short time often has fatal consequences for accident victims. Robots which autonomously scout ahead of human rescuers and summarize environmental information can greatly enhance situational awareness, enabling teams to push forward without delay. This proposal envisions immersive, robotically-created 3D models, fused from many sensor sources and created through smoke, dust, mud, flood and fire. These expansive models provide rescuers with visual clarity that are uncorrupted by environmental condition. Illumination artifacts, sensor noise and errors are removed by fusion and intelligent view planning of radical new modalities including LIDAR, RADAR, multispectral imaging and actively-illuminated RGB sensing. While the world has often been captivated by high-visibility mine accidents, robots are tangible tools with visible results that have the opportunity to become the centerpiece of any rescue effort. The disrupting effect of the first trapped miner found and human life saved by a rescue robot would inspire countless people to appreciate the evolving role of science and technology in our lives. Prior underground robotics work by this team have generated considerable press and initiated acceptance of robotic technology in even the most change-adverse industries. The investigators will continue to push for robots through media appearances, lab and mine tours for school children and live demonstrations at science museums. This project will support education at all levels, which includes supporting postdoctoral and graduate research in robotics at CMU, employing undergraduate REU interns, and developing curriculum for the Mobile Robot Design course at CMU. Contributions from this research will impact automation in industries ranging from underground production to civic inspection, and defense.