SandDragon

Description

SandDragon is a man-portable ground robot developed for the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL) as part of the Forward Attack Networked Ground System (FANGS) project. Its mission is to conduct networked surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition, and response (lethal and nonlethal) in coordination with other sensors and robots (ground and aerial) in support of Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF) conducting Operational Maneuvers from the Sea (OMFTS).

The SandDragon has two segmented bodies joined longitudinally by a single axis passive pivot joint. This configuration provides unprecedented mobility for climbing stairs, fording shallow mud and water, crossing aggressive rubble fields, navigating dense foliage, and the potential for swimming. SandDragon’s mobility design is derived from the Gemini platform, first developed for the Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

SandDragon uses the patented Sandia Modular Architecture for Robotic Teleoperation (SMART) software suite and toolkit originally developed for the Department of Energy (DOE). SandDragon’s Modular Sensor and Component Bus (MSCB) and Local Area Network (LAN), in concert with SMART, enables users to rapidly reconfigure and graphically program new behaviors for arbitrary combinations of sensors, input devices, and vehicle and manipulator kinematics. Potential missions include complex mobile manipulation tasks, communication relay nodes, and engineered collectives.

SandDragon Features

Mobility

• Maximum speed is approximately 4.5 mph on level terrain.
• Traversal through mud and water up to approximately 2 feet deep.
• Weight: Each battery weighs 3.875 pounds, each body segment weighs approximately 30 pounds without batteries.
• Maximum payload is approximately 40 pounds while traversing aggressive terrain and 80 pounds in moderate terrain.
• Operational radio range is approximately 1km in high desert terrain using 3dB omni-directional antennas.

Endurance

• Scalable hot swappable NiMH BB-390A/U battery array (24 or 36 Volts):
  • Can run on 2, 3, 4, or 6 batteries
  • 1.5 Amp Hours of capacity at 36 volts
  • Approximately 5 hour endurance while traversing motocross course terrain at a constant 2 mph speed
  • Approximately12 hours endurance if in a stationary surveillance mode with all electronics energized

Design Architecture

• Vehicle software is the patented Sandia Modular Architecture for Robotic Teleoperation (SMART) using the QNX RTOS v6.0 realtime operating system.
• Modular Component and Sensor Bus (MCSB) for rapid physical insertion and extraction of system devices while minimizing required cabling.
• thernet Local Area Network for distributed control, communications, and expansion.
• PC/104+ open architecture with a 233MHz Geode™ 686 Class Pentium CPU Module.
• Color and Near-IR dual mode camera with 18X optical zoom, 4X digital zoom, and IR LED illumination.
• Rail mounted articulated camera mast.
• Carbon fiber body construction.
• 902-928 MHz spread spectrum data transceiver radio.
• 1710-1830 MHz frequency agile video transmitter with digital and audio subcarriers.
• System is capable of supporting manipulation and cooperative behavior extensions.

Operational Control Unit

• Xybernaut 233MHz pentium class PC that can be used with either a Head Mounted Display (HMD) or a daylight readable touch panel display.
• Two NiMH BB-390A/U hot swappable batteries.
• Battery Life is approximately 8 hours.

Additional Features

• Fiber-optic control tether (currently up to 100 m length) for both video, data, and command transmissions, interchangeable with RF relay.
• MultiRAE gas monitoring system
  • Oxygen
  • Combustible gas
  • Carbon monoxide
  • Hydrogen sulfide
  • Sulfur dioxide
  • Nitrogen dioxide
  • Chlorine