The Segway RMP is a new robotic platform provided by DARPA and used in conjunction with our ongoing MARS (Mobile Autonomous Robot Software) and MARS-2020 projects. Our goals are to interface the MissionLab system to the RMP, to understand the unique capabilities (and needs) of the platform, and to integrate it into our other DARPA research.

Specifically, we are interested in

1. Using machine learning techniques on the RMP, at five different levels in our software architecture (developed under MARS),
2. Using the RMP as a member of a team of air and ground robotic platforms in MARS-2020,
3. Understanding the effects of terrain on the RMP, including loose footing and uneven surfaces,
4. Developing sensor techniques that are effective for terrain characterization and work in spite of (or are helped by) the inherent oscillation of the RMP, and
5. Encapsulating sensor algorithms as perceptual schemas to be used in conjunction with motor schemas in our architecture.
   
   

• Dr. Ronald C. Arkin
• Dr. Thomas R. Collins
• Ron Prado
• George Baah
• Ed Clarkson

• Reactive Speed Control System Based on Terrain Roughness Detection
  M. Castelnovi, R.C. Arkin, and T.R. Collins
  compressed postscript (17 MB)     pdf (3.6 MB)
• September Segway RMP Workshop (PDF)

• We are using MissionLab as the vehicle for our research. MissionLab takes high-level military-style plans and executes them with teams of real or simulated robotic vehicles. MissionLab supports execution of multiple robots both in simulation and actual robotics platforms.

• Video of RMP being teleoperated at the McKenna MOUT site at Fort Benning. [August 2003] (Quicktime) (WMV)
• Video at McKenna MOUT site of our teleoperated RMP being followed by the RMPs of the University of Southern California and the University of Pennsylvania, our collaborators in MARS-2020 (Quicktime) (WMV)
• Video of what we did when we didn't have enough good footage of the Segway falling -- we ran it through sewer pipes (also at McKenna MOUT site) (Quicktime) (WMV)
• Video of some additional stress testing of the RMP at McKenna (Quicktime) (WMV)

• The Mobile Robot Laboratory Swiki - You can find relevant up-to-date documents, web links, and other resources here.