Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle (NUGV)

The NUGV is a six-motion-degree-of-freedom (dof) sensor-rich small mobile robot designed to test methods to improve mobility in this class of UGV.

The NUGV is composed of three pods: a center pod plus two identical lateral drive pods each connected to an end of the center pod via an “L” shaped axle. Each of the three pods contains sensors of the internal and external environments, batteries, two motors with transmissions, radios, computers and associated electronics. A local RF network provides communication among the pods and with the OCU. The lateral tracked pods are capable of independent motion as seen in this video clip (500 KB).

The NUGV’s improved mobility is achieved using a combination of lateral pod track rotations (2-dof), lateral pod tilt rotations (2-dof), and lateral pod camber rotations (2-dof). Some of the different conformations possible with the six motion dof are shown below.

The NUGV has the ability to change its conformation while in motion and thus adapt to a range of physical obstacles and barriers in the environment. Examples are shown in the following figures:

• Under a gate
• Over a curb (sequence): 1 2 3
• Climbing a rubble pile (sequence): 1 2 3
• Climbing stairs
• Fitting between a narrow gap
• Making a turn while extended
• Bipedal balancing
• Straddling a pole

The NUGV OCU displays motor currents, battery voltages, some sensor values, and video from one of four cameras selected by the operator. The OCU runs from any laptop and is reconfigurable. One configuration is shown here. The laptop is coupled to a portable box containing a joystick, radio, and video card.

The NUGV may be teleoperated, or released to operate under local reactive control, or operated with a combination of teleoperation and local reactive control.

The following video segments show NUGV operation while completely under local reactive control.

• Opening and closing while adjusting camber (2.6 MB)
• Approaching a curb (6.7 MB)
• Climbing two steps (6.6 MB)
• Failing to climb a staircase without camber (4.7 MB)
• Climbing a staircase while taking advantage of camber (6.5 MB)
• Avoiding negative obstacles (5.6 MB)

The NUGV was designed and built by ACEi, Valencia, CA, under SPAWAR Systems Center contract N66001-02-MX-105, with funding from the OSD Joint Robotics Program.

Details of NUGV physical and control architectures are available from the following papers:

• Blackburn, M.R.,  Bailey, R., and B. Lytle, "Improved Mobility in a Multidegree-of-Freedom Unmanned Ground Vehicle," SPIE Proc. 5422: Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology VI, Orlando, FL, April 13-15, 2004. [PDF (588 KB)]

• Blackburn, M. and R. Bailey, "Foundations for Learning and Adaptation  in a Multidegree-of-Freedom Unmanned Ground Vehicle," SPIE Proc. 5421: Intelligent Computing: Theory and Applications II, Orlando, FL, April 12-13, 2004. [PDF (290 KB)]

Please address all questions/comments to: robo-web@nosc.mil
Last update: 2 June 2004.