Pandora: autonomous urban robotic reconnaissance system

Urban settings represent a challenging environment for teleoperated and autonomous robot systems. We present a new design for a highly terrain adaptable robot system, detailing the major mechanical, electrical and control systems. The Pandora robot system is a tracked robot system with self-contained computing, power and wireless communications systems. A sensor suite including stereoscopic and panospheric cameras, light-strippers and acoustic sonar-ring(s) allow the system to operate autonomously. Individually adjustable track-modules give Pandora extreme mobility in natural (vegetation, soils) and man-made (roads, steps) outdoor environments as well as indoor arenas (sewers, staircases, etc.). Locomotion was shown successfully over various extreme terrains, including reconfiguration to best suit the terrain and enable future sensor-supported autonomous operations.