Weapon Robot Situational Awareness via Position Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Operators controlling remotely deployed robots equipped with weapons face challenges in maintaining situational awareness, particularly in determining the robot's position and orientation relative to their own, which can lead to the risk of accidentally aiming the weapon at themselves.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that tracks the robot's position, turret orientation, and operator control unit position, providing a graphical representation on the operator control unit to assess if the weapon is aimed at the operator, and taking actions such as alerting or disabling the fire command to prevent accidental firing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the robot is maneuvered out of sight of the operator using the operator control unit, then the operator can position themselves out of harms way, but the operator loses situational awareness of the robot's position and weapon orientation
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously tracks robot position via GPS, turret orientation via encoders, and OCU position via GPS, then feeds this information back to the operator through graphical displays showing relative positions and weapon aim direction. This feedback loop maintains situational awareness even when the robot operates out of visual range.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a graphical representation (copy) of the physical situation including robot position, turret orientation, and OCU location. This visual copy allows the operator to understand the real-world configuration without direct line of sight, resolving the contradiction between safety distance and situational awareness.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the operator cannot determine the robot's position and weapon orientation, then the robot can be maneuvered freely, but the operator risks commanding the weapon to fire at their own position
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively determines whether the weapon is aimed at the OCU position before allowing fire commands to execute. If the weapon orientation falls within the fan angle of the OCU, the system prevents firing or alerts the operator, thereby counteracting the potential harmful action before it can occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors and compares weapon aim direction with OCU position, providing real-time feedback to the operator about whether the weapon is pointed toward them. This feedback enables the operator to make informed decisions about weapon engagement without risking accidental self-targeting.
3Loss of information
If the system provides continuous tracking and graphical representation of robot and weapon position, then situational awareness is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller subsystem performs multiple functions: it controls robot movement, monitors GPS position, reads encoder data for turret orientation, determines weapon aim relative to OCU, and provides graphical feedback. By consolidating these functions into a single multi-functional controller, the system reduces overall complexity despite the comprehensive tracking capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines robot control, position tracking, orientation monitoring, and safety determination into an integrated control architecture. The controller subsystem merges navigation data, turret orientation data, and OCU position data to provide comprehensive situational awareness through a unified graphical interface, reducing the need for separate independent systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A mobile, remotely controlled robot includes a turret subsystem, a robot controller subsystem configured to control the robot, control the turret, and fire the weapon, a robot navigation subsystem configured to determine the position of the robot, a turret orientation determination subsystem, and a robot communications subsystem for receiving commands and for transmitting robot position data and turret orientation data. An operator control unit includes a user interface for commanding the robot, the turret, and the weapon. An operator control unit communications subsystem transmits commands to the robot and receives robot position data and turret orientation data from the robot. An operator control unit navigation subsystem is configured to determine the position of the operator control unit. An operator control unit controller subsystem is responsive to the robot position data, the turret orientation data, and the operator control unit position and is configured to determine if the weapon is aimed at the operator control unit within a predetermined fan angle.