Development of a robotic security vehicle for exterior environments

Sandia National Laboratories is developing a robotic vehicle capable of performing limited security functions autonomously in a structured exterior environment. Efforts to apply the navigation algorithms, originally developed for the Sandia Interior Robot, to a testbed vehicle more appropriate for an outdoor environment are described. The immediate goal is a full-scale demonstration of autonomous navigation capabilities on routine patrol and teleoperation by a human operator for alarm assessment and response. The discussion covers the vehicle itself, the command driving station, adapting the vehicle to the facility where it might be assigned and the missions that it would be expected to perform. The hardware and software are also described