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7 Platform one With her distinctive modular prosthetic limbs that are analogues of human arms and hands, Robo Sally is one of several research platforms being used by Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL), which showcased its activities at May’s Xponential show in New Orleans in support of US DoD efforts to field rapid improvements in bomb disposal robots (writes Peter Donaldson). One of Robo Sally’s functions, software engineer Leif Powers explained, is to help the US Army’s Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technology Division understand the cost-effectiveness of trade-offs between Sally’s sophisticated human-like hands and the simple two-finger gripper fitted to the soldier-portable Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robotic System (AEODRS) Increment 1 robot also displayed on the stand. One of the questions JHU APL is investigating is whether AEORDS Increment 1, with its single arm and gripper, can deal with car doors, Powers said, explaining that they can be “painful” for robots to open as there are many different mechanisms requiring various techniques to manipulate successfully. Robo Sally’s two arms and fully articulated hands with force-feedback sensors should be better at opening car doors, and JHU APL is helping the Army quantify that and judge how their higher functionality and cost compare with the cheaper and simpler but less capable gripper. This understanding is intended to inform the Army’s requests for proposals and to help the service evaluate bids. JHU APL has a set of “COTS-ish” robots bought commercially then equipped with the SAE AS4 JAUS open network architecture that enables them to be used as test mules for a wide variety of hardware and software including sensors, manipulators, communications systems and autonomous behaviour modules. Robotics and autonomy programme manager Dr Reed F Young said one new capability under investigation is stereoscopic vision to enable a much more refined kind of telepresence for the EOD technician. “The ideal would be if you could physically replicate a person being there,” he said. Military’s hands-on evaluation Bomb disposal Unmanned Systems Technology | June/July 2016 A team of engineers at NovAtel has started to develop functionally safe GNSS positioning technology for fully autonomous applications (writes Nick Flaherty). The group is using its combined experience to develop safety-critical systems for the aviation industry to meet the future safety thresholds required for driverless cars and autonomous applications in agriculture, mining and other commercial markets as well as government and military applications. It plans to achieve ISO/TS 16949 safety compliance by the end of 2016 as the first step towards an ISO 26262-compliant product for driverless cars. “The Federal Aviation Agency and other global space-based augmentation systems have used certified NovAtel GNSS receivers for many years as the foundation of their systems,” said Michael Ritter, president and CEO at NovaTel. “With full GNSS signal and constellation support needed to solve the performance criteria for autonomous driving, NovAtel is moving towards delivering the optimal solution for autonomous systems.” Safety-critical GNSS due Satellite navigation Robo Sally is one research strand aimed at improving bomb disposal robots