Mobile Robot Enabled Detection of Explosives and Biological Agents; Conference paper

摘要

Detection of chemical agents such as explosives and biological agents in air and water is of current importance. The integration of micro sensors for agent detection into a robotic system can greatly enhance the safety and efficacy of the detection system. Our research aim is two-fold. 1) To create a sensing system that can detect chemical agents in explosives and biological agents in air and water and 2) to implement the detection technology into a handheld unit or a mobile robot system (such as ODIS-omni directional inspection system) that allows the soldier to deliver the sensing system to remote targets. In the case of explosives detection, the sensing system includes a thermoplastic polyurethane concentrator that absorbs the main vapor byproduct of TNT. This concentrator will release, in burst mode, higher levels of TNT vapor byproduct to allow detection under real environmental conditions. In addition, a biological sampling and concentration system can be implemented to detect small quantities of bacteria. Two methods of detection are implemented including a physical vapor detector and an optical probe detector. These lightweight miniature detection systems are integrated into a remote manipulator arm on the mobile robotic platform. The platform has an automatic scanning mode and motion control for flexible remote control.