Low-cost Mobile Platform and Sensor Suite for Remote Radiation Surveying

摘要

In order to further reduce the dosage of workers in the nuclear industry, new robotic systems must be developed to accomplish tasks currently completed by human workers. For this effort, the Nuclear Robotics Group at the University of Texas at Austin is developing a low-cost robotic system. This system will be capable of surveying work and storage spaces to document background radiation levels. A historical record of surveys can then be saved for comparison to later surveys and the detection of changes in radiation levels. Reports of anomalous radiation readings can then be sent to a human operator. The system can be autonomously operated using software packages available via ROS for perception, SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), and navigation or teleoperated using various manual control devices. There are unique challenges when developing systems for use in radiation environments in cold (non-hazardous environments) since sources with significant emissions are not available. To address this issue, three critical capabilities were developed and evaluated prior to integration.