MRI: Development of a Solar UAV Instrument

MRI：太阳能无人机仪器的开发

• 批准号: 1531330
• 负责人: Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos
• 金额: $ 152.55万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-10-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1531330&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Solar; UAV; Instrument

This project, developing a high efficiency solar power enabled aerial instrument that incorporates sensory and processing requirements into the design methodology, focuses on the development of a (robotic) instrument that fills a niche in certain applications (i.e., small scale solar powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)). The work involves the creation of a platform for real-world information gathering applications with special focus on robust navigation, distributed sensing, and collaborative scenarios. In particular, the development of a small scale solar powered UAV provides a robotic platform capable of communication, sensory coverage, and flight endurance unattainable through traditional UAV design. Existing UAVs utilizing solar power are constrained to large aircraft designs requiring a traditional runway for takeoff and landing. In contrast, electric powered small scale UAVs suffer from minimal flight time. Additionally, aerial robots provide significant advantages over ground based systems as they are unaffected by terrain and obstacles, and provide an information-rich vantage point from the air. Conventional aerial robots are significantly limited by their flight time and therefore their deployment is severely restricted. Flight time has been the central limitation for airborne sensory information and has prevented experimental research and real-world applications from being performed. The development of a high efficiency aircraft that leverages solar energy as a resource provides a solution to the flight time problem.The methodologies mentioned involve the incorporation of hierarchical planning methods that include high-level reasoning for the optimal number of UAVs/sensors required, and low-level reasoning for efficient sensor placement throughout the environment. Specifically, the use of solar powered UAV platforms will enable work in the areas of precision agriculture and environmental science, requiring strong demand for high endurance systems capable of supporting a variety of sensor and measurement units. (For example, timely and repetitive relevant information regarding crop health is necessary for corrective actions to be implemented.) Additionally, collaborative operation of dynamically placed sensor platforms and devices can only be enabled through the use of small solar powered airplanes like the ones to be implemented. The instrument that this project funds enables work in application areas that require continuous and repetitive operation such as Energy, Environment, Agriculture, etc. Consequently, this work addresses the- Development of a small scale solar powered platform that is capable of multi-day flight, - Experimental validation of the scaled down solar UAV instrument, - Long-term solar powered flight planning based on sensory data collected, and- Creation of benchmarks that will allow comprehensive evaluation of the small solar powered UAV instrument.

该项目开发了高效太阳能启用的空中仪器，该工具将感觉和处理要求纳入设计方法中，重点是开发（机器人）仪器，该仪器在某些应用中填充了利基市场（即小型太阳能太阳能无人驾驶飞机（UAVS））。这项工作涉及创建一个用于现实世界信息的平台，以特别关注强大的导航，分布式感应和协作方案，以收集现实世界中的信息。特别是，小型太阳能无人机的开发提供了一个机器人平台，能够通过传统的无人机设计无法实现沟通，感官覆盖和飞行耐力。使用太阳能的现有无人机受到大型飞机设计的限制，需要传统的跑道进行起飞和降落。相比之下，电动的小型无人机的飞行时间很少。此外，空中机器人与地面系统相比具有显着优势，因为它们不受地形和障碍的影响，并从空中提供了信息丰富的优势。常规的航空机器人受到飞行时间的限制，因此部署受到严格限制。飞行时间一直是空降感官信息的中心限制，并阻止了实验研究和现实世界的应用。利用太阳能作为资源的高效率飞机的开发提供了解决飞行时间问题的解决方案。提到的方法涉及融合层次计划方法，其中包括所需的无人机/传感器数量的高级推理，以及所需的低水平推理，以实现在整个环境中的高效传感器放置。具体而言，使用太阳能无人机平台将使在精确农业和环境科学领域的工作中进行工作，这需要对能够支持各种传感器和测量单元的高耐力系统的强烈需求。 （例如，关于作物健康的及时和重复的相关信息，必须实施纠正措施。 The instrument that this project funds enables work in application areas that require continuous and repetitive operation such as Energy, Environment, Agriculture, etc. Consequently, this work addresses the- Development of a small scale solar powered platform that is capable of multi-day flight, - Experimental validation of the scaled down solar UAV instrument, - Long-term solar powered flight planning based on sensory data collected, and- Creation of benchmarks that will allow comprehensive evaluation of the small solar powered无人机仪器。

项目成果

Robotic Embodiment of Human-Like Motor Skills via Reinforcement Learning

通过强化学习实现类人运动技能的机器人

• DOI: 10.1109/lra.2022.3147453
• 发表时间: 2022
• 期刊: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Guzman, Luis;Morellas, Vassilios;Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos
• 通讯作者: Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos