UXO detection, characterization, and remediation using intelligent robotic systems

Abstract

An intelligent robotic system can be distinguished from other machines by its ability to sense, learn, and react to its environment despite various task uncertainties. One of the most powerful sensing modality for robotic system is vision as it enables the robot to see its environment, recognize objects around it and interact with objects to accomplish its task. This paper discusses vision enabling techniques that allows a robot to detect, characterize, classify, and discriminate UneXploded Ordnance (UXO) from clutters in unstructured environments. A soft-computing approach is proposed and validated via indoor and outdoor experiments to measure its performance efficiency and effectiveness in correctly detection and classifying UXO vs. XO and other clutter. The proposed technique has many potential applications for military, homeland security, law enforcement, and in particular, environment UXO remediation and clean-up operations.