A -- COOPERATIVE ROBOT POSITIONING TECHNOLOGY

Notice Date

April 9, 2001

Contracting Office

Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC, P.O. Box 1625, Mail Stop 3805, Idaho Falls, ID 83405-3805

ZIP Code

83405-3805

Solicitation Number

S-4

Response Due

May 9, 2001

Point of Contact

Gary W. Smith, Sr. Account Executive

E-Mail Address

GAry W. Smith (smitgw@inel.gov)

Description

Bechtel BWXT of Idaho, LLC (BBWI), P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3805 A -- Cooperative Robot Positioning technology Contact Mr. Gary W. Smith. Potential technology development and licensing opportunity with BBWI, the prime operating contractor for the Department of Energy at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). BBWI is soliciting a written indication of interest from industry partners interested in funding a collaborative technology development project and or entering into a license agreement for the purpose of developing and commercializing this technology. License terms will include an up-front licensing fee and a running royalty based on a percentage of sales. This is not an opportunity to provide goods or services to BBWI or the Department of Energy. This solicitation will close to response 30 days after publication. Interested parties should send a description of their company and their ability to commercialize this technology to the following address: Gary W. Smith, Sr. Account Executive, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, BBWI, P. O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3805. E-mail is smitgw@inel.gov. A description of the technology follows. ABSTRACT : A cooperative robot navigation algorithm was developed to determine multiple robot positioning without the aid of Global Positioning System (GPS) or Dead Reckoning (DR). To verify this algorithm, "Tracker Simulation" software was developed. This program simulates a multi-robot system that determines the location of one or more robots from a single known source. The program uses up to four robots operating in a simulated environment. One robot, the lead, is capable of knowing its location to within inches at all times. Other robots are not capable of determining their position or at best, only grossly to within several meters. When one of the robot's position changes, a signal is sent to the lead robot that then determines the new location of the robot through the algorithm that uses the position history of all the other robots in the environment. As long as the position of at least one robot, the lead, is known and the range to the other robots can be determined, then the new position of the robot can be precisely calculated. BENEFIT SUMMARY : There are two methods to determine the position of mobile systems. DR uses the vehicle odometer to determine the vehicle position and orientation. GPS is very accurate and useable only for outdoor applications. Mobile systems with indoor applications are limited to only DR and are prone to inherent errors due to surface conditions, accuracy of odometer, wheel slippage, or other unknown conditions. Cooperative Robot Positioning solves indoor positioning problems by not relying on DR and allows multiple systems to navigate through an indoor area without GPS. TECHNOLOGY SUMMARY : Controlling autonomous systems requires that their spatial properties, position and orientation, be known at all times. If any one of these properties is not known then the autonomous system can not be reliably controlled. Obtaining the knowledge about position and orientation can often be difficult. Methods such as DR are not reliable because of introduced errors. Cooperative Robot Positioning introduces greater precision and reliability by using multiple sensors. An algorithm determines the position of a mobile autonomous system. Using trigonometric laws the exact position of the robot can be determined if at least two other robots don't move until its position has been determined. Once the first robot has determined its position, then another robot can move. The process repeats allowing all of the systems to continue to move one at a time without error. Simulation software allows any of the four robots to be moved at any time and the new position recalculated. Contact Gary W. Smith, Sr. Account Executive, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, BBWI, P. O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3805. E-mail is smitgw@inel.gov.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010411/ASOL008.HTM (W-099 SN50I6Z7)