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

RI：中：合作研究：扑翼微型飞行器的新型 microLIDAR 设计和传感算法

• 批准号: 1514306
• 负责人: Robert Wood
• 金额: $ 30.16万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2019-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1514306&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RI; Medium; Collaborative; Research; Novel

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.

该项目使微型机器蜜蜂能够感知其与附近任何物体的距离。这种小型机器人昆虫的深度传感在尺寸、重量、计算和功率方面突破了传感器和算法设计的极限。关键思想是联合设计；从机翼设计和光学到智能算法和高效计算，机器人昆虫的每个部分都经过共同优化。这可以通过来自不同背景的科学家和工程师的跨学科工作来实现。通过该项目获得的经验教训可应用于改造涉及小型设备的其他应用，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。该提案介绍了可用于昆虫级空中机器人的“微型激光雷达”设计。让微型激光雷达在小型平台上工作涉及四个相互交织的研究重点。第一个推力使用 MEMS 反射镜和广角光学器件来感测和调制激光脉冲。第二个推动力是采用信号处理算法来估计这种规模的距离数据。第三个重点是开发新颖的感知和导航算法，以使用微型飞行器绘制室内环境地图。第四个目标是改进机器人昆虫飞行，以实现需要了解周围范围地图的新颖操作。这些传感器的实用性将在 robobee 上进行演示，用于新颖的操作和构建室内环境的地形特征图。