by David Geer
Contact the author at geercom@windstream.net
Covert Robots
A covert robot seeks to spy without being spotted, see without
being seen, hear without being heard, and steal away undetected
with its surreptitiously siphoned data. This presents a catch- 22
challenge of sorts. How can a robot be equipped to track and
capture sights and sounds yet be inconspicuous, even stealthy
enough to hide silently nearby?
Covert robot with four Crown
GLM-100 microphones, a
Hokuyo scanning laser range
finder, and electronics visible.
Roboticists began with a Pioneer 3-AT robot as a base, adapting it to nighttime surveillance and installing a set
of four microphones. The robot was programmed to select
targets to spy on by weighing the value of the target
against the likelihood the robot will have a viable escape
10 SERVO 08.2011
route if the enemy should discover it. The engineers also
finished the robot with non-reflective paint.
The resultant calculations enable the robot to be out of
sight of a guard or sentry an additional 25 percent of the
time, according to a Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology
