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Title: Cooperative control of a squad of mobile vehicles

Conference ·
OSTI ID:639807

Tasks such as the localization of chemical sources, demining, perimeter control, surveillance and search and rescue missions are usually performed by teams of people. At least conceptually, large groups of relatively cheap mobile vehicles outfitted with sensors should be able to automatically accomplish some of these tasks. Sandia National Labs is currently developing a swarm of semi-autonomous all terrain vehicles for remote cooperative sensing applications. This paper will describe the capabilities of this system and outline some of its possible applications. Cooperative control and sensing strategies will also be described. Eight Roving All Terrain Lunar Explorer Rovers (RATLERs) have been built at Sandia as a test platform for cooperative control and sensing applications. This paper will first describe the hardware capabilities of the RATLER system. Then it will describe the basic control algorithm for GPS based navigation and obstacle avoidance. A higher level cooperative control task will then be described.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Financial Management and Controller, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
639807
Report Number(s):
SAND-98-1944C; CONF-980824-; ON: DE98006233; TRN: 98:007948
Resource Relation:
Conference: International conference - control and application, Honolulu, HI (United States), 12-14 Aug 1998; Other Information: PBD: [1998]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English