SIMON: A mobile robot for floor contamination surveys

Conference · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5541109

Dudar, E; Teese, G; Wagner, D

The Robotics Development group at the Savannah River Site is developing an autonomous robot to perform radiological surveys of potentially contaminated floors. The robot scans floors at a speed of one-inch/second and stops, sounds an alarm, and flashes lights when contamination in a certain area is detected. The contamination of interest here is primarily alpha and beta-gamma. The contamination levels are low to moderate. The robot, a Cybermotion K2A, is radio controlled, uses dead reckoning to determine vehicle position, and docks with a charging station to replenish its batteries and calibrate its position. It has an ultrasonic collision avoidance system as well as two safety bumpers that will stop the robot's motion when they are depressed. Paths for the robot are preprogrammed and the robot's motion can be monitored on a remote screen which shows a graphical map of the environment. The radiation instrument being used is an Eberline RM22A monitor. This monitor is microcomputer based with a serial I/O interface for remote operation. Up to 30 detectors may be configured with the RM22A. For our purposes, two downward-facing gas proportional detectors are used to scan floors, and one upward-facing detector is used for radiation background compensation. SIMON is interfaced with the RM22A in such a way that it scans the floor surface at one-inch/second, and if contamination is detected, the vehicle stops, alarms, and activates a voice synthesizer. Future development includes using the contamination data collected to provide a graphical contour map of a contaminated area. 3 refs.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-89SR18035
• OSTI ID: 5541109
• Report Number(s): WSRC-MS-91-189; CONF-9110344-7; ON: DE92010040
• Resource Relation: Conference: Westinghouse computer symposium, Monroeville, PA (United States), 21-22 Oct 1991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
FLOORS
RADIATION MONITORING
ROBOTS
DESIGN
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
ALPHA PARTICLES
BETA PARTICLES
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
CONTAMINATION
GAMMA RADIATION
INSPECTION
REMOTE CONTROL
CHARGED PARTICLES
CONTROL
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
RADIATIONS
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
420203* - Engineering- Handling Equipment & Procedures
540130 - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)