By SSG Tanya L. Trebes
icture it: Korea, 1997,
PVT Hart operating
a forklift on the
loading dock of Company C,
52nd Aviation Supply Support
Activities (SSA). PVT Hart is
waiting for her ground-safety
guide to assist her in moving
the cargo. She looks at the
amount of cargo that must be
offloaded and considers the
amount of time it will take to
process the items to their
proper destinations.
CSAIL/Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PVT Hart has a “Star Wars”
thought: “Wouldn’t it be nice
A semiautonomous robotic forklift being developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology responds to speech
and hand-gesture commands. The U.S.
Army Logistics Innovation Agency is
funding the Agile Robotics Project.
March 2010 ■ ARMY
99
speech and hand-gesture commands. Teaming with faculty, students and staff researchers at MIT are others from
BAE Systems, Draper Laboratory, the U.S. Army Logistics
Innovation Agency, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory,
the CASCOM Sustainment Battle Lab, the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering, the Robotic
Systems Joint Project Office and other stakeholders. Their
mission is to understand soldiers’ needs in the logistics environment and develop advanced prototypes of robotic
forklifts suitable for making the transition to supply support activities for use in a combat theater of operations.
U.S. Army/PFC Gregory Gieske
Current Capabilities
SPC Michael Walker, 38th Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Company, prepares to deploy the EOD
robot during urban combat training at Fort Stewart, Ga.
if this forklift could drive itself and automatically offload
the cargo? I could then return to the warehouse and begin
to break down the multipacks, process the smaller items,
print out the material release orders, pull the parts and
place them in their proper locations. I would be able to do
all this and clean up my area to complete my daily mission.
I would not have to wait around for someone to groundguide me back to the motor pool or parking location.”
Fast-forward 12 years. PVT Hart is now SSG Trebes, and
I am now assigned to the Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM) Sustainment Battle Lab’s Science and
Technology Division. Informed that I will be the lead for
agile robotics, immediately I think, “What is agile robotics?
How can I be the lead for something I know nothing
about?” So the learning curve begins.
I learned the answer to my question years ago on that
hot day in Korea. It involves the Agile Robotics Project, an
effort led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and funded by the U.S. Army Logistics Innovation
Agency to develop ground robots that can do useful work
safely alongside humans in existing military facilities—the
large warehouses where supply support activities take
place. One early part of the project is a semiautonomous
(mostly self-operating) robotic forklift, which responds to
SSG Tanya L. Trebes is a combat developer with the U.S. Army
Combined Arms Support Command, Fort Lee, Va., and lead
on the Agile Robotics Project. She deployed to Afghanistan in
2003 and to Iraq in 2005.
100
ARMY ■ March 2010
Military operations often occur in areas with limited support infrastructure or unimproved surfaces where normal
container handlers cannot operate. Robotic material handling equipment (MHE) is a viable alternative to upgrading
or enhancing the current fleet of MHE. This will lead to enhanced survivability, sustainment support and an extended
range of continuous operational capabilities, day or night.
Robotic MHE will be a safe, practical and routine method of
delivery to support distribution operations and to ease
warfighters’ operational burden.
Today’s robotics capabilities have become increasingly
important in supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Typical missions include the use of small, manportable robots to remotely neutralize improvised explosive devices and the use of a variety of unmanned aerial
vehicles to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Undoubtedly, the use of robots will
only increase with advances in technology, operational
needs and the proven utility of robotics in protecting soldiers within asymmetric conflicts.
While robotics technologies have rapidly grown within
tactical and operational settings, significantly less progress
has been made in using this technology to enhance military logistics processes. The Agile Robotics Project, while
still in the research and development stage, shows great
promise in being able to improve material handling within
tactical supply-support settings.
The Agile Robotics Forklift and the Soldier
Unlike traditional robotic capabilities, the agile robotics
semiautonomous forklift is designed to operate alongside
people in a natural way. It is an unmanned forklift that can
learn like a soldier and understand common terms and commands. “Training” the forklift involves giving it a guided
tour of the area in which it will operate and telling it about
each storage location, where cargo and customers’ trucks arrive, where it can and can’t go, and so forth. The forklift then
builds a “mental model” of the environment, which can then
be shared with other arriving unmanned forklifts.
The dynamics of this system allow the forklift to execute
commands without tiring, day or night. While not totally
autonomous, the forklift recognizes and executes commands spoken through a small wireless computing device
or gestured with a stylus on the device’s touch screen.
A forklift souped up
by students at
Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology
provides a glimpse
of the future of
robotics at a
demonstration at
Fort Belvoir, Va.,
July 2009.
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ARMY ■ March 2010
Agile Robotics Demonstration
The semiautonomous forklift might sound like science
fiction, but many of these capabilities were successfully
demonstrated in June 2009 at Fort Belvoir, Va., using a 3ton robotic forklift.
The demonstration took place within a notional SSA laid
out on a packed-earth lot. It included a receiving area,
where trucks arrive with palletized cargo; a bulk yard for
pallet storage; and an issue area, where customer trucks
depart after being loaded with cargo. The capabilities
demonstrated include the ability to move and manipulate
palletized bulk-sustainment commodities from receiving,
bulk storage and issue areas under the auspices of human
speech and pen-based gesture commands from a small
handheld personal digital assistant (PDA). The supervisor
could see from the robot’s point of view via video images
streamed through a wireless data link. The supervisor then
commanded the robot to perform various actions including picking up, transporting and placing various types of
pallets (tires, ammunition and so on). Advanced perception capabilities and safety features were also demonstrated, including the ability to operate in the presence of
pedestrians, fixed obstacles and other vehicles.
The demonstration showcased the robotic forklift’s ability to safely navigate around the notional SSA, detect and
locate pallets, and move them to the desired location as
specified by the supervisor. During the demonstration, the
supervisor verbally summoned the forklift to the receiving
area, used a gesture command to direct it to pick up a pallet from the truck and then verbally directed the forklift to
place the pallet in the bulk yard. A similar sequence of
commands was used to pick up a second pallet from the
bulk yard, transport it to the issue area and place it on the
bed of a second flatbed truck. The team also demonstrated
Marny Malin
Through the computing device, the supervisor can see what
the robot sees and command it effectively, whether she is
nearby or hundreds of meters away in a protected area.
One important advantage is that the robot does not require a specially prepared environment. It senses its surroundings and navigates using onboard sensors—avoiding
obstacles, other vehicles and people—with minimal reliance on global positioning system (GPS) reception.
Intricacies have now come to fruition such as raising the
mast, spreading the forks, balancing the loads and moving
in at the speed necessary not only to be productive but also
to ensure that the load or other property will not be damaged. With sensors placed around the forklift, this system
allows it to identify, measure, approach and safely move
any palletized product within any protocol the customer
has designed. The semiautonomous forklift can function
for as long as it has power/fuel, thus freeing up needed
personnel. It will also enhance warehouse operations in
many areas. With less human traffic, safety will be less of a
concern, and even as product demands increase, scheduling needed manpower will be less of a factor.
As the forklift goes about its business, it can use radio
frequency identification (RFID) tags to inventory assets,
avoid storing incompatible items together, and select stock
based on prevailing business rules and product attributes
such as shelf life. From a technical perspective, the Agile
Robotics Project has a number of novel aspects.
Many industrial robots today are designed to operate
within a specially prepared environment to overcome technical issues with perception and control. The agile robotics
team, however, focuses on the truly difficult problems of
bringing a robot into an existing human environment and
having it quickly learn the environment under human supervision, with minimal reliance on GPS.
the robot reacting appropriately to pedestrian incursion in
its travel lane. Finally, the team demonstrated the robot’s
detection of shouted warnings of “Forklift stop!” for emergency or safety procedures.
Multiple design precautions ensure safety and operator
confidence around the forklift. Safety features include a
seat-is-occupied sensor, a sensor to detect a person pulling
on the steering wheel, and redundant light detection and
ranging sensors to detect incursions. The forklift is equipped
with an emergency stop system that allows an operator to remotely stop the vehicle if necessary via the supervisor’s
PDA. In addition, mode enunciators were designed into the
forklift in the form of bright light-emitting diode strips,
words and symbols on the cabin exterior, and speakers to
alert the operator to the forklift’s intended actions before
they happen.
The Agile Robotics Project demonstration was largely
successful, though some technical issues were evident such
as a vehicle-braking problem and a concern with pallet engagement, which was rectified between demonstration sessions by adjusting a misaligned sensor. The demonstration
provided Army representatives and senior leadership with
insight into how we may use advanced, unmanned material handling capabilities in tactical environments.
Importance to the Army
Each year an estimated 40,000 MHE-related injuries occur
in the United States alone. Injuries involve employees being
struck by lift trucks or while working near elevated pallets
or forks. Many employees are injured when lift trucks are
inadvertently driven off loading docks or when the lift falls
between a dock and an unchalked trailer. For each injured
employee, there are numerous unreported incidents.
Mishaps can be costly. Most incidents also involve property
damage such as damage to overhead sprinklers, racks,
pipes, walls, machinery, doors and merchandise. Unfortunately, the majority of employee injuries and property damage can be attributed to lack of safety procedures, insufficient or inadequate training, and lack of safety-rule
enforcement. While operators suffer the most fatalities, most
injuries resulting from forklift accidents are suffered by
pedestrians and coworkers in the work area. The most common forklift injuries result from pedestrians being run over
by a truck or being struck by its load. While pedestrians and
coworkers should always be aware of the presence of forklifts in the area and should keep a safe working distance
from them at all times, with dedicated onboard sensors, a
robotic forklift may well be able to overcome many of these
safety issues by improving operator situational awareness
during both manned and unmanned modes of operation.
In addition, within a tactical environment, a robotic forklift
could be operated remotely, day or night, from a safe location without the need for lighting. When a unit is operating
in a hostile environment and receiving incoming fire, soldiers can take immediate cover while the semiautonomous
forklift continues its operation and completes the forklift
mission. Currently, in-theater SSA missions cease when un104
ARMY ■ March 2010
der enemy fire. This potentially causes a backlog of unfilled
orders. To get these supplies forward to combat units, our
support soldiers continue to work long, hard, tedious hours
to accomplish their mission. In many cases, this fatigues our
most precious commodity, the American soldier, which can
result in accidents that would not have happened under normal working conditions. The semiautonomous forklift could
narrow the gap by being able to continue to work under fire.
What Does the Future Hold?
The agile robotics team will continue to refine the robotic
forklift and explore unmanned capabilities that can enhance performance while maximizing soldier protection.
The team plans to pursue several research and development directions in the coming years.
Current efforts are focused on continued capability development including: accurate pallet detection and localization; stable, efficient operation over uneven terrain; detection of nearby pedestrians, obstacles and vehicles;
natural speech and gesture interfaces; RFID integration;
and detection of shouted warnings. The team will also focus on development of improved manipulation capabilities (pallet stacking/subpallet manipulation), and recognition and execution of more abstract, higher-level voice
commands. Other potential enhancements include operation in more adverse environments (dust, rain, snow,
night, GPS-denied areas); multitask optimization (more robots, fewer operators/supervisors); integration with backend automatic identification system/decision-support environments; improved sensor fusion and human/machine
interface, including understanding of ground-guide hand
signals and spoken directions; and improvements to the
robotic vehicle form, fit and function. A follow-on prototype demonstration at an existing Army SSA or other
venue is also being planned for late 2010.
Many of the concepts and capabilities resulting from this
project will help shape how robots will interact with soldiers in the future. Application of robotics to the logistics
domain will provide the larger Department of Defense robotics community an early example of how to use higher
levels of autonomy in a relatively benign test environment.
Robotics systems will become integral parts of the logistics landscape. Today, robotics technologies are playing an
increasingly important role in conducting operations in support of the war on terrorism. In the future, higher levels of
autonomy in robotics systems will be used in conjunction
with soldiers, systems and other assets to maximum effect.
Soldiers and logisticians of the future will rely on robotics systems to greatly improve soldier support while minimizing exposure to dangerous situations. Future platforms
may one day have the ability to transform into various
configurations, depending on the terrain and surroundings
encountered, and play multifunctional roles within logistics and combat-support domains. With continuing technology advances, it is just a matter of time before many of
these capabilities become more widely accepted and provide needed force-multiplication effects.
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