AIDEDeX (Artificial Intelligence for Detection of Explosive Ordnance Extended) aims to provide a baseline for advanced and mature research for multi-robotic systems with State of the Art sensors and Artificial Intelligence Algorithms for the detection and classification of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), EOs (Explosive Ordnance) and Landmines.
The concept of AIDEDeX relies on the strong foundations of the on-going project AIDED (https://aided-padr.eu/) in which the consortium is carrying out the technology development, offering a solid base for an highly reliable platform in AIDEDeX. The main focus is on the automated detection of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) using Artificial Intelligence techniques on data collected from a large suite of sensors such as:
- Electro-Magnetic Inference (EMI),
- Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR),
- X-Ray Backscatter Imaging (XRB),
- Raman Spectrometer,
- Infrared Cameras,
- Multispectral Cameras and Chemical.
This set of sensors, or a combination of them, allows to determine the position and type of the IED and landmines with a maximum accuracy while minimising every risk.
A fleet of mixed Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) and Aerial (UAV) will be able to operate in different scenarios, from open space fields to more risky closed environments and urban scenarios, of increasing interest for security in cities. The system will be able to plan the mission in complete autonomy, receiving just the perimeter of the area to explore. One of the UGV will also be equipped with a robotic arm for manipulation of the IED with different manipulation systems, such as pliers with force feedback to carefully grab the object, scissors to cut wires and air-compressed gun to clean eventual dust or cover on the ordnance. The core idea of this approach is to provide a fully autonomous intelligent system, with capabilities of merging and analysing data from heterogeneous sensors and decisional autonomy to operate on the environment, with performances that overcome the more consolidated approach of human operator and teleoperated robot. It would allow to overcome classical issues as environments with telecommunication denial and intrinsic difficulties in operating several robots of different dimensions and with different locomotion systems, while increasing at the same time the capacity of the operator to control the system, using hybrid interfaces between teleoperation and semi-autonomous algorithms.
The innovations resulting from the project include a complete, reliable robotics solution (mission planning, deploying, monitoring) compatible with a large range of applications.