Field Results for Tactical Mobile Robot Missions

In 1999, Georgia Tech conducted two field experiments to determine the performance of its mission specification system. The experiments were developed for the DARPA Tactical Mobile Robotics (TMR) Program and were conducted at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The goal of the TMR Program is to develop robotic tools that can perform useful tasks on future military missions involving complex obstacle negotiation, autonomous indoor navigation, and robust machine perception for urban environments. As a part of the program, Georgia Tech has been developing fault-tolerant multi-robot behaviors and a reusable mission-specification/user-interface system. Pioneer-AT robots were integrated with vision and sonar sensors, infrared proximity sensors, and differential global positioning system (DGPS) to achieve the goals of approaching and conducting an interior search of a hospital. The emphasis of these particular experiments was the practical implementation of schema-based behavioral control with the mission specification system when designed with the novice user in mind. This paper details the results obtained and lessons learned during those preliminary field trials.