SBIR-STTR Award

In order to increase worker safety while reducing costs, time and secondary waste generation during the identification of hazardous contamination in Department of Energy sites, robotic systems are needed to carry sensors into hazardous and difficult-to-access environments. To accomplish this, a wide range of robotic delivery mechanisms are needed which can provide dexterity and large reach while facilitating portability and repairs. Unfortunately, available robotic manipulators (arms) do not offer the performance solutions and operational characteristics necessary to conduct many of these tasks in an effective manner. A novel modular system for building custom robots, will be integrated with an on-site, real-time contamination sensing and mapping system to provide a semi-automated and remote means of identifying hazardous contamination (heavy metals, organics and radiological). The modular robotic system will provide a delivery mechanism with greatly increased reach, mobility and serviceability while being more cost effective and quick to deploy than conventional technology. A Department of Energy site, scheduled for cleanup, which contains difficult-to-access contamination will be selected to serve as a design target. A robotic manipulator(s) tailored to the selected task will designed using the modular robot system and integrated with a size-reduced sensor/contaminant mapping system. This combined system will then be rendered in a graphical simulation to demonstrate this approach and allow its operation to be evaluated.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The combined system resulting from this work can be utilized by commercial nuclear utilities and other governmental cleanup/analysis operations such as military facilities and environmental protection investigations. Additionally, each of the two core technologies furthered by this work, the modular robotic system and the real-time contaminant sensing and mapping system, have extensive applicability on their own both within and outside of the Department of Energy. The portable sensor system can provide a virtual field laboratory for applications such as hazardous material identification and bomb detection. High-performance, field serviceable robotic systems are needed in many areas of cleanup operations, such as decontamination and dismantlement, material segregation and packaging. The commercial sector stands to benefit from the availability of a modular robotic system that can be used to build custom automation on-demand for the production of goods such as pharmaceuticals, electronics and consumer products.

Presently, characterization operations are scheduled for thousands of facilities and pieces of equipment throughout contaminated DOE sites, each of which requires manual surveying with handheld instruments and manual record keeping. Such work, particularly in difficult-to-access-areas, results in significant amounts of worker exposure, long timelines, and secondary waste generation. Therefore, a distinct need exists for remote tools that can quickly deploy sensors and automated contamination mapping systems into these areas. This project will combine a modular system for building custom robots with a portable real-time contamination sensing and mapping system (3D-ICAS) to provide a semi-automated and remote means of identifying and mapping hazardous contamination (heavy metals, organics, and radiological). In Phase I, a survey of sites containing difficult-to-access characterization needs determined that significant savings could be realized in worker exposure and in ancillary costs through the application of this modular robotic system. Phase II will integrate the modular robotic system with the contamination sensing and mapping system for use in an on-site characterization demonstration. To achieve this, hardware from two existing prototype systems will be utilized and modified prior to integration. The contamination analysis unit will be size-reduced while the modular robotic system will receive one larger joint size and deflection compensation, enabling it to reach areas far beyond those of comparable robotic systems.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
A tool that can be safely used for the detection and mapping of hazardous materials should have application in commercial nuclear facilities, bomb sniffing operations, military site decommissioning or anywhere dangerous organics, heavy metals, or radionuclides are used. Additionally, the modular robotic system should impact DOE deactivation and decommissioning operations, which presently have need of custom, high-performance robotics.