Geospatial
Robots, being where we can't
Robots, being where we can't
...A warplane lands on the deck of carrier after a 50-hour mission that included
firing a missile with a 10-pound nanoenergetic warhead into the window of a
safe house occupied by a wanted terrorist.
...It wasn’t a skilled pilot who made the kill, but rather a computer programmed
to carry out this specific task, aided by a munition smart enough to make
incremental adjustments that allowed it to hit the target with minimal collateral
damage.
...Science fiction? Hardly. Northrop Grumman’s X-47B UAV bomber is
designed to carry out a mission without the direct intervention of a human. The
day when the military relies on robots to fight is within reach.
...Bill Gates predicts robotics as the next hot field. In January 2007 in Scientific
American, he wrote that the robotics industry is developing in the same way
computers did 30 years ago.
...“We may be on the verge of a new era, when the PC will get up off the
desktop and allow us to see, hear, touch and manipulate objects in places where
we are not physically present,” he wrote.
...Robots fuse biomechanics, software, sensor technology, materials science,
computing and other specialties, to create machines that perform a host of tasks.
They roam the surface of Mars, fly over Iraq and Afghanistan and spot fires in
California. They also do the mundane, from welding to cleaning to cooking.
...And South Mississippi is a player, though fledgling. It’s where some of the
smartest UAVs are built and where technologies for unmanned undersea
systems are studied. It’s also where remote sensing applications are developed
and is home to a leader in advanced materials research.
...But more is in the pipeline. At least two events could boost South Mississippi’
s role in robotic systems. One is Mississippi State University’s interest in
establishing an engineering outreach on the coast, the other is the competition to
build a $3 billion UAV-based surveillance system for the Navy.
...Both would have a direct impact on South Mississippi’s robotic future.
The robot market
...According to the Industrial Federation of Robots, there will be 1.2 million
industrial robots by the end of 2010, up from 951,000 in 2006. By 2010 another
35,500 service robots for professional use will be added to the 40,000 in use in
2006. About 3.5 million service robots for personal/domestic use were sold by
2006, with projected sales of 1.34 million units by 2010. The market for
entertainment robots is forecast at 2.2 million units.
...The service robots now in use include more than 9,000 that serve in defense,
rescue and security roles, according to IFR. It represents the largest chunk of
the professional service robot sector.
...The Department of Defense’s interest spans the spectrum, from surveillance
robots to armed robots to pack-mule robots. It’s also a big supporter of research
in the field, funding everything from robots thrown by foot soldiers to fighter-
size aircraft.
...One of DoD’s current projects is a Chihuahua-sized, four-legged robot called
LittleDog, which could help researchers create a robot helper for ground troops.
Six research teams, including MIT, Stanford and the Institute for Human and
Machine Cognition in Pensacola, are fine-tuning algorithms to make its
movements more natural. The project is funded by the Defense Advanced
Research Project Agency, which envisions a larger robot that could carry
supplies.
...Another old hand at using robots is NASA, which is developing robot
explorers to use as trailblazers at the same time it’s working on new spacecraft
for the Constellation Program. NASA’s first robotic probe in the program to
return humans to other planets is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, slated to
launch in late 2008. It’s the first of many robotic missions NASA will conduct
between 2008 and 2016.
Mississippi Gulf Coast
...It was in 2006 that a significant event occurred in South Mississippi that put it
on the robot path: Northrop Grumman opened a UAV center in Moss Point to
work on the Fire Scout and Global Hawk.
...Perhaps less well-known but just as significant is South Mississippi’s
involvement in unmanned underwater vehicles. Stennis Space Center is home to
the Undersea Vehicle Technology Center, operated by the University of
Southern Mississippi. It develops systems for remotely operated and
autonomous underwater vehicles.
...Those activities along with the geospatial applications work at Stennis, the
advanced materials research in Hattiesburg and activities in the broader Gulf
Coast aerospace corridor offer a combination of capabilities that has piqued the
interest of engineering-oriented Mississippi State University, which is involved in
all those fields.
...At the urging of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic
Development, MSU began to explore the possibility of establishing an
engineering outreach center. Initial plans call for using facilities in Biloxi.
...MSU is no stranger to this kind of outreach. In addition to the Center for
Advanced Vehicular Systems in Starkville, MSU has an extension center in
Canton that focuses on the auto industry. The precise role of the Engineering
Engagement and Outreach Service in Biloxi is still being developed.
...Regional facilities that might work with EEOS include the National Center for
Advanced Manufacturing in New Orleans (composite manufacturing), the
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola (human/machine
interface), Eglin Air Force Base’s Munitions Directorate (smart weaponry) and
the University of Southern Mississippi’s National Composites Research and
Development Center.
The BAMS competition
...South Mississippi also stands to gain from the current competition between
three aerospace companies to win a $3 billion program to build the Navy’s
Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aircraft system.
...The BAMS program is designed to provide persistent maritime surveillance
capability by 2014. It would involve building between 15 and 48 UAVs that will
be based at five stations worldwide. Each UAV would have to be capable of a
50,000-foot ceiling and be able to penetrate cloud cover.
...Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems is proposing the Global Hawk, Boeing
is proposing the Gulfstream G550 and the Lockheed Martin-General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems is proposing a larger version of the Predator, the MQ 9
Reaper/Mariner.
...The system, which will provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,
will serve as an adjunct to the retiring Lockheed P-3 Orion fleet before
eventually working with the P-3 replacement, the Boeing P-8 Poseidon.
...The winner is expected to be announced in February. System development
and demonstration is scheduled for FY 2008, with low rate initial production set
for FY 2012 and initial operational capability in FY 2014.
...Should Northrop Grumman win, the Global Hawk workforce in Moss Point
would more than double to 37 positions, while sales related to activities at Moss
Point would increase by 40 percent – up to $14 million.
...“For the Navy BAMS program, we’re looking at 14 air frames all together
between 2013 and 2014,” said Jim Stratford, manager of communications at
Northrop Grumman in Melbourne, Fla. A BAMS win would likely lead to more
international sales of Global Hawks, all of which would have a direct impact on
Moss Point.
...Another program that would bring eight more Global Hawks to Moss Point is
the NATO AGS (alliance ground surveillance) program. It envisions using
Global Haws equipped with Multi-Platform Radar Technology sensors to
provide the kind of surveillance performed for the U.S. military by Joint Stars.
The future
...What may bode well for South Mississippi future in robotics is the interest
high school students have shown in the field. Teams from South Mississippi
participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition – a varsity “sport” for budding
science and technology students that pits teams in an international competition.
...David Fava, Director of Career and Technical Education at the Gulfport High
School Technology Center, estimates that some 200 students have been directly
involved with hundreds of others coast wide through community outreach
programs over the past nine years. He said Gulfport’s team, Team Fusion,
which was the first team in the state, has about 24 students a year in the
program.
...Not surprisingly, the young people were well ahead of the curve. - Tcp
January 2008
firing a missile with a 10-pound nanoenergetic warhead into the window of a
safe house occupied by a wanted terrorist.
...It wasn’t a skilled pilot who made the kill, but rather a computer programmed
to carry out this specific task, aided by a munition smart enough to make
incremental adjustments that allowed it to hit the target with minimal collateral
damage.
...Science fiction? Hardly. Northrop Grumman’s X-47B UAV bomber is
designed to carry out a mission without the direct intervention of a human. The
day when the military relies on robots to fight is within reach.
...Bill Gates predicts robotics as the next hot field. In January 2007 in Scientific
American, he wrote that the robotics industry is developing in the same way
computers did 30 years ago.
...“We may be on the verge of a new era, when the PC will get up off the
desktop and allow us to see, hear, touch and manipulate objects in places where
we are not physically present,” he wrote.
...Robots fuse biomechanics, software, sensor technology, materials science,
computing and other specialties, to create machines that perform a host of tasks.
They roam the surface of Mars, fly over Iraq and Afghanistan and spot fires in
California. They also do the mundane, from welding to cleaning to cooking.
...And South Mississippi is a player, though fledgling. It’s where some of the
smartest UAVs are built and where technologies for unmanned undersea
systems are studied. It’s also where remote sensing applications are developed
and is home to a leader in advanced materials research.
...But more is in the pipeline. At least two events could boost South Mississippi’
s role in robotic systems. One is Mississippi State University’s interest in
establishing an engineering outreach on the coast, the other is the competition to
build a $3 billion UAV-based surveillance system for the Navy.
...Both would have a direct impact on South Mississippi’s robotic future.
The robot market
...According to the Industrial Federation of Robots, there will be 1.2 million
industrial robots by the end of 2010, up from 951,000 in 2006. By 2010 another
35,500 service robots for professional use will be added to the 40,000 in use in
2006. About 3.5 million service robots for personal/domestic use were sold by
2006, with projected sales of 1.34 million units by 2010. The market for
entertainment robots is forecast at 2.2 million units.
...The service robots now in use include more than 9,000 that serve in defense,
rescue and security roles, according to IFR. It represents the largest chunk of
the professional service robot sector.
...The Department of Defense’s interest spans the spectrum, from surveillance
robots to armed robots to pack-mule robots. It’s also a big supporter of research
in the field, funding everything from robots thrown by foot soldiers to fighter-
size aircraft.
...One of DoD’s current projects is a Chihuahua-sized, four-legged robot called
LittleDog, which could help researchers create a robot helper for ground troops.
Six research teams, including MIT, Stanford and the Institute for Human and
Machine Cognition in Pensacola, are fine-tuning algorithms to make its
movements more natural. The project is funded by the Defense Advanced
Research Project Agency, which envisions a larger robot that could carry
supplies.
...Another old hand at using robots is NASA, which is developing robot
explorers to use as trailblazers at the same time it’s working on new spacecraft
for the Constellation Program. NASA’s first robotic probe in the program to
return humans to other planets is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, slated to
launch in late 2008. It’s the first of many robotic missions NASA will conduct
between 2008 and 2016.
Mississippi Gulf Coast
...It was in 2006 that a significant event occurred in South Mississippi that put it
on the robot path: Northrop Grumman opened a UAV center in Moss Point to
work on the Fire Scout and Global Hawk.
...Perhaps less well-known but just as significant is South Mississippi’s
involvement in unmanned underwater vehicles. Stennis Space Center is home to
the Undersea Vehicle Technology Center, operated by the University of
Southern Mississippi. It develops systems for remotely operated and
autonomous underwater vehicles.
...Those activities along with the geospatial applications work at Stennis, the
advanced materials research in Hattiesburg and activities in the broader Gulf
Coast aerospace corridor offer a combination of capabilities that has piqued the
interest of engineering-oriented Mississippi State University, which is involved in
all those fields.
...At the urging of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic
Development, MSU began to explore the possibility of establishing an
engineering outreach center. Initial plans call for using facilities in Biloxi.
...MSU is no stranger to this kind of outreach. In addition to the Center for
Advanced Vehicular Systems in Starkville, MSU has an extension center in
Canton that focuses on the auto industry. The precise role of the Engineering
Engagement and Outreach Service in Biloxi is still being developed.
...Regional facilities that might work with EEOS include the National Center for
Advanced Manufacturing in New Orleans (composite manufacturing), the
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola (human/machine
interface), Eglin Air Force Base’s Munitions Directorate (smart weaponry) and
the University of Southern Mississippi’s National Composites Research and
Development Center.
The BAMS competition
...South Mississippi also stands to gain from the current competition between
three aerospace companies to win a $3 billion program to build the Navy’s
Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aircraft system.
...The BAMS program is designed to provide persistent maritime surveillance
capability by 2014. It would involve building between 15 and 48 UAVs that will
be based at five stations worldwide. Each UAV would have to be capable of a
50,000-foot ceiling and be able to penetrate cloud cover.
...Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems is proposing the Global Hawk, Boeing
is proposing the Gulfstream G550 and the Lockheed Martin-General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems is proposing a larger version of the Predator, the MQ 9
Reaper/Mariner.
...The system, which will provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,
will serve as an adjunct to the retiring Lockheed P-3 Orion fleet before
eventually working with the P-3 replacement, the Boeing P-8 Poseidon.
...The winner is expected to be announced in February. System development
and demonstration is scheduled for FY 2008, with low rate initial production set
for FY 2012 and initial operational capability in FY 2014.
...Should Northrop Grumman win, the Global Hawk workforce in Moss Point
would more than double to 37 positions, while sales related to activities at Moss
Point would increase by 40 percent – up to $14 million.
...“For the Navy BAMS program, we’re looking at 14 air frames all together
between 2013 and 2014,” said Jim Stratford, manager of communications at
Northrop Grumman in Melbourne, Fla. A BAMS win would likely lead to more
international sales of Global Hawks, all of which would have a direct impact on
Moss Point.
...Another program that would bring eight more Global Hawks to Moss Point is
the NATO AGS (alliance ground surveillance) program. It envisions using
Global Haws equipped with Multi-Platform Radar Technology sensors to
provide the kind of surveillance performed for the U.S. military by Joint Stars.
The future
...What may bode well for South Mississippi future in robotics is the interest
high school students have shown in the field. Teams from South Mississippi
participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition – a varsity “sport” for budding
science and technology students that pits teams in an international competition.
...David Fava, Director of Career and Technical Education at the Gulfport High
School Technology Center, estimates that some 200 students have been directly
involved with hundreds of others coast wide through community outreach
programs over the past nine years. He said Gulfport’s team, Team Fusion,
which was the first team in the state, has about 24 students a year in the
program.
...Not surprisingly, the young people were well ahead of the curve. - Tcp
January 2008
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