UCAT Tethering for Continuous USP Vehicle Power and Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned robotic devices, especially aerial ones, require significant training and sophisticated systems for tasks, and face challenges when needing to replenish depletable materials or power supplies, often requiring them to pause and travel to a site for replenishment, wasting time and energy.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising an unmanned self-propelled vehicle connected to a mobile base station via an umbilical cabling and tethering (UCAT) apparatus, which provides power, fluid medium, and control signals, allowing for continuous operation without the need for the vehicle to stop or travel for replenishment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the robotic device carries limited onboard power supply and materials, then the device can operate autonomously without constant connection, but the device must pause and travel to replenish supplies, reducing productivity
Solution Approach 1:
The UCAT apparatus establishes a continuous supply connection between the mobile base station and the robotic device through umbilical cables. This allows power, fluid medium, and control signals to flow continuously to the device during operation, eliminating interruptions for replenishment and enabling uninterrupted task performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system separates the robotic device into two functional components: a self-propelled vehicle unit that performs tasks, and a mobile base station that provides support functions. The UCAT apparatus connects these segments, allowing the device to maintain autonomy in navigation while receiving continuous supplies from the base station, thus eliminating the need to pause for replenishment.
2Extent of automation
If the robotic device is equipped with sophisticated onboard guidance navigation and control systems, then the device can perform complex tasks autonomously, but the system complexity and training requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts complex guidance, navigation, and control functions from the robotic device and relocates them to the mobile base station. The base station's processors generate control signals that are transmitted through the UCAT apparatus to the device, simplifying the onboard systems while maintaining autonomous task performance capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The UCAT apparatus serves as an intermediary communication and control channel between the mobile base station and the robotic device. It transmits control signals from the base station's sophisticated processing systems to the device, enabling complex autonomous operations without requiring equivalent complexity onboard the moving unit.
3Ease of operation
If the robotic device uses depletable materials and power supplies onboard, then the device can operate independently, but it must travel to replenish supplies, wasting energy that could be used for tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The UCAT apparatus enables continuous delivery of power and fluid medium from the mobile base station to the robotic device during operation. This eliminates the need for the device to return to replenish supplies, converting what would be energy-wasting travel into productive task time and eliminating the energy loss associated with replenishment trips.
Data Source
AI summary
An aspect of the embodiments includes a system comprising an unmanned self-propelled (USP) vehicle comprising a tool having a dispensed tool output and a mobile base station. The mobile base station comprises a power supply, a fluid medium source, and one or more processors operable to generate control signals to control the USP vehicle and to affect the dispensed tool output from the tool. The mobile base station includes an umbilical cabling and tethering (UCAT) apparatus to interconnect the USP vehicle and the mobile base station, the UCAT apparatus providing the USP vehicle with one or more of power from the power supply, a fluid medium from the fluid medium source and the control signals. The embodiments include a mobile base station and method for conducting a task.