Urban hopper.

Conference · Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2010

OSTI ID:988538

Xavier, Patrick Gordon; Feddema, John Todd; Little, Charles Quentin; Spletzer, Barry Louis; Fischer, Gary John; Weagle, Christian A ^[1]; Salton, Jonathan Robert; Marron, Lisa Carol; Malchano, Matthew D ^[1]; Giarrantana, John ^[1]; Murphy, Michael P ^[1]; Rizzi, Alfred A ^[1]; Buerger, Stephen P

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1. Boston Dynamics Waltham, MA

Hopping robots provide the possibility of breaking the link between the size of a ground vehicle and the largest obstacle that it can overcome. For more than a decade, DARPA and Sandia National Laboratories have been developing small-scale hopping robot technology, first as part of purely hopping platforms and, more recently, as part of platforms that are capable of both wheeled and hopping locomotion. In this paper we introduce the Urban Hopper robot and summarize its capabilities. The advantages of hopping for overcoming certain obstacles are discussed. Several configurations of the Urban Hopper are described, as are intelligent capabilities of the system. Key challenges are discussed.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 988538
• Report Number(s): SAND2010-1388C; TRN: US201019%%19
• Resource Relation: Conference: Proposed for presentation at the SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing held April 5-9, 2010 in Orlando, FL.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
ROBOTS
DESIGN
OPERATION
URBAN AREAS
SECURITY