Mobile Robotics for the Surveillance of Fissile Materials Storage Areas: Sensors and Data Fusion

A mobile robotics system is being developed to perform remote surveillance tasks inside a fissile material pilot storage area. The system is constituted of the operator’s console and a remotely guided vehicle carrying a manipulator arm and sensors (i.e., odometers, TV cameras, ultrasound sensors and a laser range finder). Nuclear Safeguards philosophy stresses the need for having sensors based on different physical principles, allowing for true sensor independence and complementarity. These aspects are important when fusing sensor data, in order to build corroborative evidence upon which decisions are to be taken. The paper describes the mobile robotics system and studies the implications of the on-board sensors in the system’s architecture both at the hardware and software levels. The use of sensor data for vehicle navigation is described, as well as the application of range images for environment authentication.