Department
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Major
Mechanical Engineering
Research Advisor
Finaish, Fathi
Advisor's Department
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Funding Source
Missouri S& T Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experiences (OURE) Fellows Program NASA Space Grant Program
Abstract
A semi-autonomous helicopter has been created to fill both civilian and military rolls. In a civilian role, the aircraft is capable of assisting disaster relief personnel in surveying damaged structures and other hazardous areas. In a military role, the aircraft can provide valuable, time-sensitive intelligence in urban environments. A number of sensors and pieces of computer hardware have been mounted on a small remote-control helicopter to allow for near autonomous operation. The helicopter is controlled from a portable, laptop computer-based ground station that allows the operator to monitor the helicopter's position and video from an onboard camera. Image processing software station assists the operator in identifying windows and doorways of buildings. A fuzzy logic control system has been developed for the helicopter and has been tuned with partial success and tested using flight simulation. Additional work is needed to finish tuning and testing the control system.
Biography
Nick Lessley is a senior in Mechanical Engineering at Missouri S& T with an emphasis in design. He has been a member of the Missouri S& T Robotics Team since early 2006. As the chief engineer of the Stereo Opticon robot, he is responsible for coordinating an interdisciplinary team of engineers and scientists. He is also in charge of teaching and leading the mechanical engineers in design and construction, of the next generation robots. His research experience includes a project under Dr. Finaish for the SA VER team during the fall semester of 2006. The project was to build a dual collective helicopter transmission out of ''off the shelf' parts. A dual collective transmission would have allowed the SA VER team to have more control than the helicopter's original capability. In the end, it was determined to be too difficult of a project for the time span and the cost.
Research Category
Engineering
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Document Type
Presentation
Award
Engineering oral presentation, Second place
Location
Havener Center, Ozark Room
Presentation Date
09 Apr 2008, 10:30 am - 11:00 am
Development of an Aerial Robot for Surveillance Missions around Buildings
Havener Center, Ozark Room
A semi-autonomous helicopter has been created to fill both civilian and military rolls. In a civilian role, the aircraft is capable of assisting disaster relief personnel in surveying damaged structures and other hazardous areas. In a military role, the aircraft can provide valuable, time-sensitive intelligence in urban environments. A number of sensors and pieces of computer hardware have been mounted on a small remote-control helicopter to allow for near autonomous operation. The helicopter is controlled from a portable, laptop computer-based ground station that allows the operator to monitor the helicopter's position and video from an onboard camera. Image processing software station assists the operator in identifying windows and doorways of buildings. A fuzzy logic control system has been developed for the helicopter and has been tuned with partial success and tested using flight simulation. Additional work is needed to finish tuning and testing the control system.
