SUGV

SUGV (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle) was originary a demining robot manufactured by the british company Allen Vanguard. During the EU-FP7 project ICARUS, SUGV was given to RRLab that was in charge to adapt it to the specific tasks within the project.

The dimensions are 104cm x 53cm x 56cm (with closed arm) for a weight of 60kg. Its caterpillars make it able to turn in place and to climb slopes up to 45° on various types of terrain. The 5 degrees-of-freedom manipulator can be used to lift objects up to 20kg, to open doors and to extend the visual feedback to inaccessible places. The power is provided by two 24V Li-Po batteries for a total autonomy of 2h.

The primary aim is the exploration of damaged buildings in post-disaster scenarios whenever the way is obstructed by debris or there is still a risk of structural collapse. SUGV is tele-operated from a base station through a wireless communication, using an exo-skeleton to remotely control the manipulator to open doors and grasp objects. By means of 3 RGB cameras, a Time-Of-Flight camera and 2 Laser Range Finders the operator has a feedback about the environment around the robot and is assisted by the software during the motion operations. An Infrared camera was meant to be mounted on SUGV to detect heating traces from alive victims.

The SUGVII provides an experimental platform for alternative control architectures and hardware. In particular, it is investigated how hybrid CPU/FPGA architectures can be used to realize safe real-time control of robots.