ThrowBot: design considerations for a man-portable throwable robot

Abstract

The pocket-sized ThrowBot is a sub-kilogram-class robot that provides short-range remote eyes and ears for urban combat. This paper provides an overview of lessons learned from experience, testing, and evaluation of the iRobot ThrowBot developed under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Mobile Robots (TMR) program. Emphasis has been placed on investigating requirements for the next generation of ThrowBots to be developed by iRobot Corporation and SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego (SSC San Diego) Unmanned Systems Branch. Details on recent evaluation activities performed at the Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) test site at Fort Benning, GA, are included, along with insights obtained throughout the development of the ThrowBot since its inception in 1999 as part of the TMR program.