Several technologies were demonstrated at the September 1999 DARPA Distributed Robotics Principle Investigators' Meeting at the US Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA.

Left to Right: Al Pollack, Roy Ritzman, Master Sergeant Miller (test monitor), Vivian George.

      High speed video was taken of the microrobot hind leg to verify that it could demonstrate the coordination and range of motion necessary for locomotion. In addition, the hind leg powerfully kicked objects to demonstrate that it could generate the force necessary for jumping.

Foreground: Henry Girolamo, Steve Phillips, Regina Dugan, Terence Wei.

      The fully autonomous 2" microrobot hopper was tested on a staircase with steps of varying thicknesses to determine the step heights that could be climbed. The hopper also underwent Range of Locomotion tests, in which it was determined how far the hopper could travel without having a mechanical failure, tipping over or deviating significantly from the desired path. The hopper ran continuously for 45 min before depleting the energy stored in the batteries.

      The Analog VLSI implementation of a two neuron oscillator was shown to have the capability to create a sigmoid function. A Continuous Time Recurrent Neural Network will be used to control the robot.

Matthew Birch
      Researchers received training from Marine Corps instructors. The experience was extremely valuable because it gave insight into what conditions and what types of environments the microrobots would be used in. In addition, researchers gained enormous amounts of respect for the job that Marines do daily.

Far left:Matthew Birch. Second from left: Steve Phillips.
      Training was given by Marine Corps instructors on operations such as working in groups when entering buildings and rooms that may contain enemy personnel.

      Proper firearms safety procedures were explained and emphasized by instructors.

      After training, the principal investigators were taken on a simulated patrol.

      During an attack, individuals had to utilize what had been learned in training. Suppressive fire was put down while one group attempted to enter and secure the building on the far right.

      Suppressive fire was also put down by fully automatic assault rifles.