RI: Medium: Collaborative Research: Novel microLIDAR Design and Sensing Algorithms for Flapping-Wing Micro-Aerial Vehicles

这个项目使微小的机器蜜蜂有可能感觉到它与附近任何物体的距离。这种对小型机器昆虫的深度传感在大小、重量、计算和能力方面突破了传感器和算法设计的极限。关键思想是关节设计；机器人昆虫的每个部分都进行了共同优化，从翅膀设计和光学到智能算法和高效计算。通过来自不同背景的科学家和工程师的跨学科工作，这是可能的。从这个项目中学到的经验可以应用于其他涉及小型设备的应用，包括医疗传感器和内窥镜成像，智能家居和物联网，农业和工业监控系统，以及用于搜索和救援的移动视觉。激光雷达传感使大型机器人汽车能够在复杂的环境中导航。这项提案介绍了可用于昆虫规模的空中机器人的微型激光雷达的设计。让微型激光雷达在小平台上工作涉及四个相互交织的研究推力。第一个推进器使用MEMS反射镜和广角光学元件来感测和调制激光脉冲。第二个推力是采用信号处理算法来估计这种规模的距离数据。第三个推动力是开发新的感知和导航算法，以使用微型飞行器绘制室内环境地图。第四个推力是改进机器人昆虫的飞行，使其能够进行需要了解周围射程地图的新颖操作。这些传感器的用途将在RoboBee上演示，用于室内环境的新颖机动和建筑地形地形图。

This project makes it possible for a tiny robotic bee to sense its distance to any nearby object. Such depth sensing for a small robot insect pushes the limits of sensor and algorithm design in terms size, weight, computing, and power. The key idea is joint design; every part of the robotic insect is optimized together, from wing design and optics to intelligent algorithms and efficient computation. This is possible by inter-disciplinary work across scientists and engineers from diverse backgrounds. The lessons learned through this project can be applied to transform other applications that involve small devices including medical sensors and endoscope imaging, smart homes and the internet of things, agricultural and industrial monitoring systems, and mobile vision for search and rescue.Lidar sensing has enabled large robotic cars to navigate complex environments. This proposal introduces designs for "micro-lidar" that can be used on insect-scale aerial robots. Making micro-lidar work on small platforms involves four intertwined research thrusts. The first thrust uses MEMS mirrors and wide-angle optics to sense and modulate the laser pulses. The second thrust is adapting signal processing algorithms to estimate range data at this scale. The third thrust is developing novel perception and navigation algorithms to map the indoor environments using a micro-aerial vehicle. The fourth thrust is to improve robotic insect flight to allow novel manipulations that require knowledge of the surrounding range map. The utility of these sensors will be demonstrated on the robobee for novel maneuvers and building topo-feature maps of indoor environments.