Robotic systems for supporting special operations.

#perimeter alarm

Robotic systems for special operations.

BATANOV Alexander Fedorovich
GRITSYNIN Sergey Nikolaevich
MURKIN Sergey Vladimirovich

ROBOTIC SYSTEMS FOR SPECIAL OPERATIONS

In recent years, robotization of literally all spheres of human activity has been taking place. The range of application of robotics is extremely wide:

— robots are replacing people in production. Full automation of many processes reduces human participation in production to making important decisions and troubleshooting equipment malfunctions;

— robots are used in space exploration and ocean depths;

— robots are used to perform complex surgeries on the brain and heart. Robotic prostheses for limbs and some internal organs have been developed;

— military equipment is becoming smarter and more independent – ​​the machine controls movement, monitors the situation, aims and hits the target, while humans are left with tactical tasks and maintenance.

The robotization process has also affected such a specific area as public safety: for more than 20 years, mobile robots and robotic systems have been in the arsenal of special services and police units.

A bit of theory

There is still no clear idea of ​​which machine can be considered a robot and which cannot.

In the encyclopedic dictionary, a robot is an automatic system (machine) equipped with sensors that perceive information about the environment and actuators, capable of purposefully behaving in a changing environment with the help of a control unit.

A characteristic feature of a robot is the ability to partially or completely perform the motor and intellectual functions of a person.

A robot differs from a conventional automatic system (for example, an automatic machine) in its multi-purpose designation, greater versatility, and the ability to be reconfigured to perform various functions. In practice, the concept of a “robot” is also extended to any remotely controlled vehicles equipped with a sensing system (at least a machine vision system).

A robot is designed to replace a personin cases where the task is beyond human capabilities or is associated with an excessive threat to human health and life, as well as in the event of a shortage of professionally trained personnel to perform labor-intensive and cyclically repetitive tasks.

Robots can be classified by:

• areas of application — production (industrial), military (combat, support), research, medical;
• habitat (operation) — ground, underground, above water, underwater, air, space;
• degrees of mobility — stationary, mobile;
• type of control system — software, adaptive, intelligent;
• functional purpose — manipulation, transport, information, combined;
• level of versatility — special, specialized, universal;
• design features:

• type of actuators — electric, hydraulic, pneumatic;
• by type of propulsion — tracked, wheeled, wheeled-tracked, half-tracked, walking, wheeled-walking, rotary, with loop, screw, water-jet and jet propulsion;
• by design features of process equipment — by number of manipulators, by lifting capacity of manipulators, by coordinate system of working area (linear, angular);
• by type of sources of primary control signals — electrical, bioelectric, acoustic;
• control method — automatic, remote-controlled (copying, command, interactive, supervisory, dialog), manual (articulated-balance, exoskeleton).

The operating conditions of robots, determined by the type of operating environment and the nature of the work process, can be divided into two categories: deterministic (defined) and non-deterministic (undefined).

Deterministic environments are environments designed and created by humans. Accordingly, a deterministic process is any process whose course is entirely dependent on the purposeful activity of a human (activity for the direct implementation of the process, process management, etc.).

Deterministic environments already have a high degree of organization, or the required degree of organization can be achieved at relatively low cost. The certainty of the environment is due to a priori knowledge of the exact position of all objects with which the robot can interact.

For a manipulation robot, this means precise knowledge of the location and orientation of objects located in its work zone.

For a transport robot, a deterministic environment is, for example, a rail track in a workshop. The first category also includes environments that can be organized in the required manner, although at the cost of significant costs (not fully organized environments). In this case, individual objects may have previously unknown deviations from the standard.

These environments include field warehouses for ammunition, fuel and lubricants, process positions, etc.

In the environments of the second category, it is practically impossible to organize them.

Such environments are called completely unorganized (non-deterministic).

These include, in particular, natural environments and environments created by emergency situations both in natural conditions and during the destruction of environments designed and created by man, i.e. during the destruction of buildings and structures.

Robot actions in natural environments include actions in field conditions: reconnaissance on the ground, military actions, demining and patrolling, underwater and underground work, etc. (including in cases of radioactive, chemical and bacteriological contamination of the area).

Robot actions in the event of destruction of man-made environments include conducting combat operations in urban conditions, as well as actions to clear rubble, rescue work in destroyed structures, etc.

Non-deterministic processes include any process whose course and result do not depend entirely on the targeted activity of a person.

Non-deterministic processes include military operations, all natural processes (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.), fires, explosions (as a result of man-made accidents), etc.

A special class of robotic systems, called mobile robots in technical literature, is currently being developed for work in non-deterministic conditions., the distinctive feature of which is the presence of locomotion capability (i.e. the ability to move the system in space).

Any mobile robot can be represented as a set of three large systems — transport, special and control (diagram 1).

Diagram 1. Generalized structure of a mobile robotic complex.

The transport system is a vehicle designed to deliver special and technological equipment to the place where the task is performed.

The vehicle consists of a chassis, a hull, and a power plant. As a rule, the control system is installed inside the hull.

Depending on the type of operating environment, the chassis can be tracked, wheeled, wheeled-tracked, half-tracked, walking, wheeled-walking, rotary, with loop, screw, water-jet, and jet propulsion.

The appearance of a ground mobile robot is primarily determined by the type and design of the propulsion unit, which serves to transform the force received from the engine into traction force, which moves the vehicle, during interaction with the external environment.

The choice of the type of propulsion unit and its dimensions is a very complex task.

It is practically impossible to create a universal design of a propulsion unit that would enable equally confident movement in a variety of environmental conditions: many types and properties of bases, complex terrain intersections, the need to move along structural elements and inside buildings are the reason for creating a large number of layout schemes for robots with different types of propulsion units.

The main attention of developers is paid to various options for wheeled and tracked propulsion units. Somewhat less attention is paid to the walking propulsion unit.

And significantly less — to other types (for example, rotary-screw, air cushion vehicles, etc., designed for movement on a surface with specific physical and mechanical properties (swampy areas, shallow water, deep snow).

Each type of propulsion has its own area of ​​application. Thus, as a propulsion unit of a multifunctional mobile robot designed for use on difficult terrain, a tracked propulsion unit is chosen as the most universal. When predominantly using the robot on roads, a wheeled version of the vehicle is more preferable.

The use of walking machines is promising only in an environment where the speed of a wheeled or tracked mover is inferior to the speed of a walking mover (for example, in mountainous terrain, in areas of destruction, etc.).

When designing conventional vehicles, the parameters of the mover are optimized for the most typical conditions of use and surfaces of movement. However, for a mobile robot, such optimization is impossible due to the uncertainty of the movement conditions.

Therefore, robot drives are currently designed with the ability to adapt to the surface of movement.

First of all, this applies to small-sized robots intended for work inside buildings and structures, in areas of destruction, combat and reconnaissance robots (photo 1).

 
Photo 1. The Andros Mk V A mobile robot (Remotec, USA) has an adaptive tracked drive.
The front and rear sections of the tracks can change their position, providing the machine with high cross-country ability.

Adaptive drives of such robots have the ability to change their parameters and structure independently or at the command of the control system based on current information about the conditions of movement in order to achieve a certain, usually optimal, state with initial uncertainty and changing conditions of movement.

Special systems serve to directly perform the assigned tasks.

A special system consists of the necessary set of technological equipment, the composition of which is determined by the type of task being solved and the purpose of the MR.

For example, when solving reconnaissance tasks, the technological equipment is a set of sensors and means for primary information processing.

The implementation of technological tasks can be ensured by a manipulator and a set of replaceable tools for it.

When carrying out explosive engineering work, the necessary equipment is diagnostic tools for explosive devices and hydraulic destroyers (photo 2).

Photo 2. Additional equipment kit for the Wheelbarrow Mk7 mobile robot (Alvis Logistics, UK)

The control system provides control over the movement and operation of process equipment, as well as adaptive control of the chassis and power plant, taking into account the interaction of the transport system with the environment.

The control system includes an information and control part (robot control equipment, sensors, a machine vision system and microprocessors for preliminary information processing) located on the mobile robot; a mobile robot operator's station (control panel, video viewing devices; a computer for information processing) and a set of receiving and transmitting equipment that ensures the transmission of information from the robot to the operator's station and control commands from the operator's station to the mobile robot (photo 3).

 
Photo 3. Operator's station of the mobile robot RODE (Unimex, Germany)

The motion control system should also ensure motion planning in non-deterministic conditions based on a cartographic database, taking into account information continuously received by the control system from technical sense organs and the navigation system.

The complexity of the control system is determined by the complexity of the task being solved, the degree of uncertainty of the external environment and the required degree of autonomy of the robot.

It is the development of control systems that determines the development of robotic complexes in general, and, in particular, formed the basis for the classification of mobile robots by generation.

In general, the control system contains three control levels: upper (strategic), middle (tactical) and lower (executive), which have built-in adaptation mechanisms that operate on the basis of assessing the quality of implementation of plans of various levels in the real physical world.

The organization of interaction between control levels should allow decisions to be made at the level that currently has the most reliable information, without transferring control to a higher level.

A person (operator) is currently an integral part of the control system. The functions of a person in the control system determine its complexity.

In first-generation robots, the operator actively participates in controlling the mobile robot at all three levels, including continuous manual control of the actuators. This simplifies the design of the control system, but complicates the operator's work.

In remote control mode, recognition of road scenes, route planning, and generation of control commands are performed by an operator located at a stationary or mobile control panel.

The main disadvantages of remote control are due to the presence of television and radio communication channels, their low noise immunity, the impossibility of maintaining radio silence, and the danger of unexpected termination of communication in radio shadow zones.

In second-generation robots, lower-level control is assigned to the on-board robot control system.

Common to second-generation robots is the use of feedback both in accordance with the current state of the robot and in accordance with the state of the external environment.

The third generation of robots leaves humans only at the strategic level: the system of communication with the operator is reduced to issuing a task and accepting a report on its completion.

Making the operator's life easier comes at a high price: the automatic system must have universality, flexibility and the breadth of capabilities of natural intelligence.

At the same time, any additional task solved by an artificial intelligence system, and especially a class of tasks or situations, requires not only the development of special solution algorithms, but also specialized technical means — new technical sensory organs, special computers and actuators, i.e. each such task is a complex scientific and technological problem.

At present, the most appropriate seems to be the development of combined systems with automatic and remote supervisory control capabilities.

For example, the «capture» of the road and entry to it is carried out by a person, and the movement along the road is carried out by the driver, the search for landmarks on the ground and their identification is carried out by a person, and the calculation of the robot's location is carried out by the on-board control system.

The exclusion of a person from the process of direct control sharply reduces the volume of information transmitted via the air, and the possibility of his intervention in difficult situations expands the range of tasks to be solved.

In addition, the automatic system ensures the continuation of the task or the evacuation of the robot from the danger zone in the event of a communication failure due to the use of radio suppression equipment or failure of radio equipment.

The use of a mobile robot is more effective when used as part of a robotic complex formed by a group of mobile robots, delivery, power supply and maintenance equipment, a central control and data processing station.

Mobile robots are universal and therefore can be used in various fields.

When it comes to the use of robotics for military purposes and in emergency situations, the technical capabilities of robots, their suitability for use in harsh and extreme conditions, and their ability to ensure the protection of service personnel are of primary importance.

When using robots in civilian industry, the greatest importance is attached to their cost-effectiveness.

The main tactical tasks solved with the help of mobile robots

To varying degrees, the use of mobile robots in the interests of special services and police units is possible during any type of operation. However, the most appropriate use of robots is during explosive works and anti-terrorist operations, as well as during the protection of important facilities.

In this case, the use of robots is possible to solve the following tactical tasks:

— during explosive works

• search and diagnostics of explosive devices
• destruction or evacuation of explosive devices
• disarming or rendering harmless explosive devices
• conducting chemical and radiation reconnaissance of objects and territories

-during anti-terrorist operations

• setting up electronic interference, smoke and special screens
• delivery and use of special non-lethal means
• covert penetration of captured and guarded objects
• conducting electronic audio and video reconnaissance of objects and territories
• destruction of barriers (doors, walls)
• conducting distracting fire, identifying enemy firing points

-when guarding objects

• patrolling the territory or perimeter of the object
• preventing attempts to penetrate the object
• neutralizing violators.

The specified operations are carried out at various sites and in various conditions:

• at public transport facilities (urban transport, rail, air, sea, automobile);
• in places of residence and life of people (apartments, houses, offices, etc.);
• at industrial facilities (chemical industry facilities, nuclear technological cycle, etc.);
• at urban infrastructure facilities (sewage, heating plants, water supply, etc.);
• in open areas, in very rough terrain, in forests, etc.

The specifics of operations, operating conditions and functional purpose of a mobile robot determine its design features, the degree of complexity of the control system, weight and size characteristics and the composition of special equipment.

The following general requirements are imposed on a mobile robot:

• the robot must have high mobility and cross-country ability in urban conditions, inside buildings and structures, in destruction zones, on rough terrain, both on hard smooth surfaces and on deformable soil bases;
• the robot must operate reliably both in unprepared natural conditions and in an environment specially adapted for human habitation (inside houses, in transport communications), fit into urban traffic flows or move as part of transport columns;
• the design of the robot must ensure its high mobility and rapid deployment when performing special operations.

To perform the above tasks, special forces have the following main groups of mobile robots:

• Mobile Robotic Complex (MRK) — universal ground robots designed for operations at transport facilities, industry, urban infrastructure, etc., in open, slightly rugged terrain;
• Special Robotic Complexes — robots capable of moving along vertical and inclined surfaces of industrial facilities and vehicles, as well as in pipelines and narrow spaces;

Small-sized Remotely Piloted Aircraft (SRPA) — an aerial robot for reconnaissance in open areas, rugged terrain, in the mountains, in the city.

Mobile robotic complexes

Mobile robotic complexes are used for:

• combat support of special operations (barrage fire, reconnaissance in force, destruction of obstacles, etc.)
• conducting reconnaissance;
• conducting explosive works (search, extraction, transportation and neutralization or destruction of explosive objects and unexploded ordnance; blasting works);
• ensuring the safety of important objects.

By weight (and, consequently, mobility) and main purpose, MRKs can be divided into 4 groups:

• super-light, weighing up to 35 kg (photo 4);
• light, weighing up to 150 kg;
• medium, weighing up to 800 kg;
• heavy, weighing over 800 kg.

Photo 4. Ultra-light mobile robot MRK-01 (Bauman Moscow State Technical University).
Designed to conduct inspection checks,
search for and destroy explosive objects.
It is a basic model for a family of small-sized robots.

Technical characteristics of the MRK-01 robot

General characteristics of these groups are given in Table 1.

Table 1.

In world practice, robotic complexes of the first three groups have received the greatest development.

This is due to their maneuverability, the possibility of rapid technical adaptation to a specific type of operation or work being performed, as well as relatively low material and economic costs for their production and operation.

The main purpose of these robots is to guard the premises of important facilities, combat terrorist attacks, and search for and neutralize explosive devices.

The modular principle initially incorporated into the design of most robots allows for the creation of multifunctional complexes using a single transport system as a base and forming a working system when installing replaceable weapons or working equipment and the required control system.

Original specialized transport modules are being developed for robots weighing up to 800 kg (photo 5). Heavier robotic systems use serially produced military and civilian transport equipment as base chassis (photo 6).

 Photo 5. The mobile robotic complex MRK-25 (Bauman Moscow State Technical University) has a convertible chassis. Folding the track allows the robot to maneuver in tight spaces (for example, turn around on stairwells) and allows the robot to be transported in a jeep or minibus.

Technical characteristics of the MRK-25 robot

Photo 6. The vehicle of the robotic mine clearance system ETODS (OAO, USA) is based on a Bobcat type loader.

Structurally, universal mobile robots are small-sized self-propelled vehicles equipped with reconnaissance equipment, a set of replaceable working equipment and tools.

They are designed for remote control by an operator conducting observation directly or using a television camera.

The set of devices and equipment installed on the robots includes:

• television equipment (on modern models, as a rule, color images), including television cameras (up to four units) and portable monitors, through which the operator observes the area and controls the operation of the machine;
• lighting equipment (spotlights) for illumination during operations in the dark and at low light levels;
• manipulators for grasping, moving and transporting objects;
• portable X-ray equipment for on-site examination of the detected object and determination of its degree of danger;
• equipment for destruction of explosive devices (the most common are hydrodynamic destroyers used to destroy improvised explosive devices in non-metallic casings, acetylene torches for burning non-metallic mines, and smooth-bore guns for firing heavy blank bullets);
• a set of tools for disassembling, separating, or disabling individual components of a detected munition in order to neutralize it;
• a set of stethoscopes for listening to the operation of the clockwork of delayed-action fuses, as well as mirrors for examining individual components of a suspicious object located in hard-to-reach places.

The machines themselves are made on a chassis made of aluminum alloys and alloy steel with a wheel, track or replaceable (quickly replaceable from wheel to track and back) undercarriage (photo 7).

A fully rotating (as a rule) manipulator is mounted on the chassis, adapted for installing replaceable working equipment, apparatus or tools.

Electric batteries are most often used as a power plant, their capacity is usually sufficient for operation for several hours, however, it is possible to use an internal combustion engine or power supply from an external power source.

When using batteries, the drive of the chassis of the machine and working equipment is usually electromechanical, and the internal combustion engine is hydraulic. Remote control of the operation of the machines is carried out by radio (at a distance of up to 4000 m), by fiber-optic communication line (at a distance of up to 400 m), or by cable. (at a distance of up to 100 m).

Photo 7. The Castor mobile robot (GIAT Industries, France) can have either a wheeled or a tracked chassis.

The small weight and dimensions of remotely controlled machines allow them to be transported to the work site by light vehicles, and they are unloaded and loaded on light ramps under their own power.

The low center of gravity and lightweight tracks allow the vehicle to climb steep slopes, including flights of stairs, enter small spaces and operate in very confined areas.

Small Remotely Piloted Aircraft

A new class of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft emerged in the early 1980s – miniature and relatively inexpensive remotely piloted aircraft (miniRPVs).

The Israelis were the pioneers in this area, the first to create and successfully use mini-RPVs during the battles with Syria in the Bekaa Valley (South Lebanon) in 1982. Following Israel, the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada, China, Iraq and other countries, both with developed aircraft industries and those with only aircraft repair bases, began work in this direction.

RPVs are capable of:

• conducting aerial visual reconnaissance of the area;
• conducting radiation, chemical and bacteriological reconnaissance;
• ensure the retransmission of radio signals;
• hit targets, deliver special technical means to the target.

Currently, there is no single and clear classification of UAVs. In particular, it is customary to classify unmanned vehicles according to various criteria:

• depending on the control system used — on those flying according to a program or according to radio commands (the latter are often called remotely piloted or telecontrolled). It is believed that the range of UAVs with a radio command guidance system is significantly less than that of devices flying according to a program, since control is usually carried out in the VHF range and is determined by the line of sight;
• by takeoff weight and size – small-sized (sometimes called miniature), medium-sized and large-sized. According to foreign press reports, Western specialists are currently focusing their efforts on creating small-sized UAVs comparable in weight and size to radio-controlled models of airplanes and helicopters;
• by tasks – reconnaissance, electronic warfare and multi-purpose;
• by type – airplane-type UAVs; helicopter-type and autogyros; lifting and tethered systems; gas-filled vehicles (airships and aerostats).
• The composition of airborne robotic equipment includes remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), several vehicles that provide launch, maintenance and control.

As a power plant, RPA use aircraft piston or turbojet engines, and to ensure their launch (takeoff) from the ground — powder jettisonable boosters. Unmanned vehicles returning from a mission descend by parachute or are caught at the end of the descent glide path by a special net, sometimes they land using chassis.

The composition of the onboard equipment is determined mainly by the tasks assigned to the UAV: ​​reconnaissance aircraft use aerial cameras (APC), television cameras, infrared (IR) stations, and electronic reconnaissance equipment.

The aircraft can carry active jamming stations, devices for ejecting anti-radar reflectors, etc.

In recent years, many foreign countries and Russia have shown increased interest in small UAVs with vertical takeoff and landing, made according to the helicopter scheme (photo 8).

Such RPVs are characterized by a significantly low weight (up to 50 kg) and dimensions, which allows them to be transported by non-specialized transport and quickly deployed at the site of use.

Photo 8. Remotely controlled helicopter.

The range of tasks solved by helicopter-type RPVs is very wide:

— visual and technical control of vast, hard-to-reach territories;
— preventive control of terrain and objects;
— search for people and objects;
— delivery of medicines and cargo.

Since the mid-90s, the United States has been developing miniature flying vehicles, microRPVs (photo 9).

Photo 9. Micro UAV (AeroVironment Inc., USA) with a 15 cm wingspan has a range of 1 km and can fly for 10 minutes. It carries two television cameras as a payload.

Micro UAVs are remotely piloted devices with dimensions of no more than 15 cm, a flight range of about 10 km, a speed of 10-20 m/s and a flight time of up to 1 hour.

Miniature digital cameras, sensors, and special technical equipment are used as a payload.

Main operations of the Micro UAV:

— reconnaissance within a radius of up to 1 km during operations in open areas;
— reconnaissance in urban areas;
— delivery of sensors and special equipment;
— reconnaissance of contaminated areas.

Currently, efforts are being made abroad to coordinate work related to the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles, since, as foreign experts believe, their independent development by various countries and firms, along with the unjustified expenditure of significant material forces and resources, often leads to the emergence of UAVs that are practically identical in design and capabilities.

Special robotic complexes

Experience in the use of industrial robots moving on arbitrary surfaces gives an idea of ​​the capabilities of special robotic complexes.

World priority in this area belongs to Japanese firms.

They have currently developed and mass-produced a number of remote-controlled robotic devices designed for:

• monitoring for leaks from large-capacity gas tanks;
• ultrasonic monitoring of welded seams of ship hulls, walls of gas and oil tanks;
• sandblasting of ship hulls and walls of ship tanks;
• diagnosing the condition of the walls of high-rise buildings, washing glass and walls;
• monitoring the surface of the walls of buildings and the walls of tanks for storing liquid nuclear waste;
• washing the walls of nuclear reactor shafts.

The efficiency of using special robotic complexes in industry lies in:

• reducing the costs of carrying out technological operations due to the lack of need for lifting devices, scaffolding, safety devices;
• reducing the time it takes to complete work;
• improving labor safety by removing personnel from the work area.