The Army Research Laboratory and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have evaluated a “self-righting” mechanism designed to help a robotic military platform recover from a fall.
ARL said Aug. 24 it partnered with APL to test the capacity of an Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robotic System to self-right using software developed by Army researcher Chad Kessens.
Northrop Grumman‘s Remotec subsidiary built AEODRS in collaboration with the U.S. Navy and APL.
APL researcher Galen Mullins helped the team extend the use of software from Kessens to robotic technology with higher degrees of freedom through adaptive sampling methods.
“We originally developed the software for underwater vehicles, but when Chad explained his approach to the self-righting problem, I immediately saw how these technologies could work together,” Mullins said.
The team found that AEODRS could allow a military robot to right itself on level ground regardless of the system’s original state.
“Our next step is to determine what a robot is capable of on uneven terrain,” Kessens added.