Description

The original COTS scout prototype was developed in the spring of 2002. The COTS scout is designed to be a low cost alternative. It is equipped with a black & white video camera that transmits via a FM transmitter on the 900 Mhz unlicensed band. The transmitter works on three different channels and can be turned on/off remotely to save battery life and bandwidth. The robot is controlled via a standard RC radio receiver. The original model can withstand throws up to 50 feet, and the future version should be able to withstand throws of > 100 feet.

Capabilities

Variations

Currently, there are two different versions of the COTS Scouts. The first generation and second generation COTS Scouts are very similar in electronics and communication range. The second generation COTS Scouts were developed in an attempt to address some of the problems associated with building a robot that can withstand being thrown long distances. These new hardening features allow it to take multiple throws of > 50 feet and still function.

Demos

The COTS scout in action. (14MB mpeg)	The COTS Scout in a variety of use scenarios (60 MB WMV)
A narrated description of the COTS Scouts. (43MB mpeg)	A COTS Scout dropped from an RC Aircraft. (25MB mpeg)

Images

Publications

Ben Jackson, Ian Burt, Bradley E. Kratochvil, and Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos. "A Control System for Teams of Off-the-Shelf Scouts and MegaScouts", to appear, Proceedings of the 11th IEEE Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, Rhodes, Greece, June 2003.

Andrew Drenner, Ian Burt, Derek Goerke, Bradley E. Kratochvil, Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos. "COTS Scout Robot", To Appear in Video proceedings of the SPIE International Symposium on Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology V, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A., April 2003.

Bradley E. Kratochvil, Ian T. Burt, Andrew Drenner, Derek Goerke, Bennett Jackson, Colin McMillen, Christopher Olson, Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos, Adam Pfeifer, Sascha A. Stoeter, Kristen Stubbs, David Waletzko. "Heterogeneous Implementation of an Adaptive Robotic Sensing Team." Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Taipei, Taiwan, May 2003.