Modular robotics and intelligent imaging for unmanned systems

The Imaging, Robotics, and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Laboratory at the University of Tennessee is currently developing a modular approach to unmanned systems to increase mission flexibility and aid system interoperability for security and surveillance applications. The main focus of the IRIS research is the development of sensor bricks where the term brick denotes a self-contained system that consists of the sensor itself, a processing unit, wireless communications, and a power source. Prototypes of a variety of sensor bricks have been developed. These systems include a thermal imaging brick, a quad video brick, a 3D range brick, and a nuclear (gamma ray and neutron) detection bricks. These bricks have been integrated in a modular fashion into mobility platforms to form functional unmanned systems. Research avenues include sensor processing algorithms, system integration, communications architecture, multi-sensor fusion, sensor planning, sensor-based localization, and path planning. This research is focused towards security and surveillance applications such as under vehicle inspection, wide-area perimeter surveillance, and high-value asset monitoring. This paper presents an overview of the IRIS research activities in modular robotics and includes results from prototype systems.