UGV-ABC

The goal of the project UGV-ABC is to develop a new type of mobile first response CBRN laboratory. For this a new type of aggregation state agnostic sampling device is developed for the Taurob Ogrip Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) platform. Robotics and automation challenges of sampling are tackled jointly with the Department of Industrial Engineering. The Department of Electronics Engineering focus is to validate and implement the sensor choices for onboard analysis, e.g., RAMAN spectrometer, multispectral camera, and gamma camera.

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) already save human lives in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) since 1972. With the advent of self-driving technology those driveable tools have the capability to become intelligent and self-sufficient supporters. As such, they ought to also support first responders in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) disaster response, reconnaissance and possibly containment and decontamination. Nowadays, only sampling for later laboratory analysis or highly specialised, single measurement device implementations are available. Thus, together with Taurob GmbH – who’s Offshore Working-Class Robot (OWCR) platform is aimed at autonomous plant monitoring and manipulation in hazardous and ATEX environments – a mobile sampling device for solids, liquids and gases is developed. If possible, these samples are analysed semi-autonomously by the onboard analysis system consisting of e.g., Raman spectrometers, multispectral cameras, and gamma cameras.

The project UGV-ABC (Unmanned Ground Vehicles for ABC missions) is an R&D cooperation of the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (Department of Electronics Engineering and Department of Industrial Engineering) with the company Taurob, funded by the FFG under the FORTE program.