Rapid deployment of multi-functional modular sensing systems in the soil

概述：了解土壤状态和关键土壤参数（应力水平、刚度、渗透性、强度）对于有效和高效地决定人类应如何与土壤沉积物相互作用至关重要。与获得未扰动样品相关的挑战意味着可以原位测量这些特性的探针非常有用。根据格鲁吉亚理工学院最近的原型设计工作，该团队将开发一种带有集成传感器系统（BRISS）的自走式挖掘机器人。BRISS的设计将建立在成熟的静力锥入度原位测试的基础上，并利用机器人、生物工程、数值建模和机器学习方面的最新发展。确定为实现这一目标所必需的研究目标是：（一）设计、建造和部署土壤中的自动化传感器传输系统，并对借用过程进行建模;（二）在挖掘过程中感知机械和物理信号，并利用机器学习调整土壤勘探; ㈢用创新的微粒力学、摩擦学、大变形连续力学模型和特征选择算法解释记录的信号。来自格鲁吉亚理工学院（GT）和伦敦帝国理工学院（ICL）的跨学科学者团队将合作实现这些目标。该团队将为一群研究生和博士后研究人员提供共同建议。他们将通过视频会议、研讨会和互访积极互动。

Overview:Understanding the state of soil and key soil parameters (stress level, stiffness, permeability, strength) isessential to inform effective and efficient decisions about how humans should interact with soil deposits.Challenges associated with obtaining undisturbed samples mean that probes that can measure theseproperties in-situ are incredibly useful. Informed by recent prototyping work at the Georgia Institute ofTechnology, the team will develop a self-propelled Burrowing Robot with an Integrated Sensor System(BRISS). The BRISS design will build upon the strength of the well-established cone penetration in-situtest and exploit recent developments in robotics, bio-inspired engineering, numerical modeling andmachine learning. The research objectives identified as necessary to achieve this goal are to: (i) Design,build and deploy a robotized sensor delivery system in the soil, and model the borrowing process; (ii)Sense mechanical and physical signals during the burrowing process and adapt the soil exploration usingmachine-learning; (iii) Interpret the recorded signals with innovative particulate mechanics, tribology,large deformation continuum mechanics models and feature selection algorithms. An inter-disciplinaryteam of scholars from the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) and Imperial College London (ICL) willcollaborate to achieve these objectives. The team will co-advise a cohort of graduate students and postdoctoralresearchers. They will actively engage with each other via video conferencing, workshops andmutual visits.