Crusher is a 13,200-pound (6,000 kg)[2] autonomous off-road Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle developed by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center for DARPA.[3] Each of its six wheels is driven by its own electric motor; the electric motors are powered by battery packs, which are charged by a 78-horsepower (58 kW) diesel generator.[3] It is a follow up on the previous Spinner vehicle.[1] When fully fuelled, it weighs 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg), and, at that weight, two crushers could be carried by one Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.[1] DARPA's technical name for the crusher is Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle and Perceptor Integration System,[4] and the whole project is known by the acronym UPI, which stands for Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle PerceptOR Integration.[3]
The robot can travel over extreme terrain, such as vertical walls more than 4 feet (1.2 m) high[2], wooded slopes, and rocky creekbeds.[5] It can turn 180 degrees in place, raise and lower its suspension by 30 inches (76 cm)[2], and lean left or right.[5] The crusher can carry 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of combined armor and cargo.[2] According to Stephen Welby, director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, "This vehicle can go into places where, if you were following in a Humvee, you'd come out with spinal injuries."[6] The crusher can see enemy troops from over 2 miles (3.2 km) away with its cameras.[6]
These robots have space frames and skid plates.[5] The space frames, designed by CTC Technologies, have hollow aluminum tubes and titanium connections to improve strength. The high-strength steel skid plates are shock-mounted to protect against heavy blows from tree stumps or boulders.[2] The nose of the crusher vehicle was designed not only to shove aside normal obstacles like small trees and brush, but also to absorb the energy of a major collision.[2]
The crusher has a hybrid engine.[7][2] This hybrid engine is capable of travelling several miles on one battery charge. The diesel engine then turns on to continue powering the crusher and to recharge the battery module.[7] This diesel engine comes from a diesel Volkswagen Jetta.[6]
Because they are designed to be autonomous, they have no steering wheel, brake pedal, or any other controls for an internal operator.[5] Instead, operators drive the crusher with the controllers for racing video games. A modified Apple iPhone runs the crusher's self-diagnostics and gives remote updates, and a standard Xbox 360 controller is used to raise and lower the mast, rotate the camera, and fire the weapons.[6]
The crusher can also drive autonomously. By utilizing a few basic GPS coordinates, the crusher can drive to its destination.[8] While it cruises between its waypoints, the crusher continuously evaluates its surroundings to find the fastest and easiest path to its destination. If it finds a boulder more than 6 feet (1.8 m) high or a streambed more than 6 feet (1.8 m) deep, the crusher will find a way around it. Otherwise, it will drive over them or shove them out of the way.[8]
The camera system uses five cameras, of which each is a 1600 by 1200 pixels, single-CCD, Bayer pattern, color camera.[9] These cameras give an overall field of view of 200 degrees horizontally and 30 degrees vertically. The resolution is 40 pixels to the degree, which corresponds to 1.5 minutes of arc per pixel and is over four times the resolution of a normal television set. When running in remote-control mode, the crusher sends images back to the operator, and these images are resized and positioned so the operator sees on his screen what he would see if he were really sitting on top of the crusher.[9]
Currently, the crusher sends data back to an operator via a 0.62 miles (1 km) fiber optic cable. The current cable is 0.063 inches (1.6 millimetres) in diameter, including the polyurethane jacket. It can handle sixteen different channels, and six of them are currently in use, five for video transmission and the sixth for gigabit ethernet. The ethernet channel carries the vehicle IMU data, control information, and vehicle audio.[9]
The crusher will be used for a number of missions considered highly dangerous for soldiers. For some missions, such as fire supportorreconnaissance, driving the robot via remote control would suffice. However, other uses, such as using the crusher for Medevac, as a supply mule, or as a sentry, require that the robot be completely autonomous.[5] John Bares, one of the people on the development team for the crusher, mentions that Medevac would be a good use for the robot because it could go into the battlefield under fire to scoop up fallen soldiers.[10]
When unloaded, the crusher weighs 13,200 pounds (6,000 kg), and can carry a maximum of 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of payload and armor combined.[2] The crusher is 201 inches (510 cm) long, 102 inches (260 cm) wide, and 60 inches (150 cm) high when the ground clearance is set to 16 inches (41 cm). The ground clearance can be dynamically changed from 0 inches (0 cm) up to 30 inches (76 cm), which is more than 1/2 the 49.5 inches (126 cm) diameter of the wheels.[2] The crusher has zero turning radius because it uses a skid steering system.[2] When pushed to its maximum speed, the crusher can travel at 26 miles per hour (42 km/h), but it can only sustain that for less than seven seconds.[2] Depending upon the traction, the crusher can climb up slopes of more than 40 degrees and travel with more than 30 degrees of slope to the side.[2]
| Item | Spec |
|---|---|
| Maximum height of step that can be climbed | More than 4 feet (1.2 m)[2] |
| Maximum width of trench that can be crossed | More than 80 inches (200 cm)[2] |
| Powertrain | Turbo diesel engine runs a 78 horsepower (58 kW) generator that powers a battery module with a capacity of 24.9 hp (18.7 kilowatt-hours), which runs six 280 horsepower (210 kW) traction motors.[2] |
| Peak torque | 40,000 ft-lb[convert: unknown unit][2] |
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