The following invention relates to smart material couplings, particularly to shape memory alloy drivetrain systems to mitigate against shock or blast.

There is provided an armoured land vehicle comprising:an armoured v shaped hull; a powerplant located within said chassis, at least one wheel set with a hub, and, at least one drive shaft comprising a shape memory alloy, wherein said drivetrain is located between and operably connected via drive couplings to said powerplant and the hub of the at least one wheel set, to provide drive to said at least one wheel set.

This invention provides impact detection and vehicle cooperation to achieve particular goals and determine particular threat levels. For example, an impact/penetration sensing device may be provided on a soldier's clothing such that when this clothing is impacted/penetrated (e.g., penetrated to a particular extent) a medical unit (e.g., a doctor or medical chopper) may be autonomously, and immediately, provided with the soldiers location (e.g., via a GPS device on the soldier) and status (e.g., right lung may be punctured by small-arms fire).

In some embodiments, autonomous product delivery systems and methods are provided herein useful to deter theft of commercial products via an autonomous ground vehicle (AGV). In some embodiments, systems are provided to deter theft of commercial products, and may comprise: an AGV configured to transport commercial products to delivery locations that includes control circuits, which are communicatively coupled to sensors, container storage areas housing commercial products for delivery, defensive elements positioned proximate to the commercial products and configured to physical alter the commercial products and render them unsatisfactory for their intended purpose. The control circuits can determine the presence of unknown third parties positioned next to the AGV and, in response thereto, determine occurrences of adverse events associated with the AGV. Some embodiments, in response to determining the occurrence of adverse events, the control circuits can activate the defensive elements to physically alter the one or more commercial products.

The present disclosure is directed to mobile correctional facility robots and systems and methods for coordinating mobile correctional facility robots to perform various tasks in a correctional facility. The mobile correctional facility robots can be used to perform many of the tasks traditionally assigned to correctional facility guards to help reduce the number of guards needed in any given correctional facility. When cooperation is employed among multiple mobile correctional facility robots to execute tasks, a central controller can be used to coordinate the efforts of the multiple robots to improve the performance of the overall system of robots as compared to the performance of the robots when working in uncoordinated effort to execute the tasks.

The NON-LETHAL Combat Sport Robot is a tactical tool for people in the combat sports world. The robot can move through terrain and has a movable upper head piece to aim non-lethal guns and a camera to defeat opponents. It is equipped to be able to play within the rules and confines of the Combat sports. It achieves this by introducing a suite of devices including non lethal guns, mercy shot light, death flag and hit switches to comply with traditional combat sport rules.

There is disclosed a deployable surveillance, security and/or enforcement unit, comprising: a container configured for deployment from a vehicle or by air at a surveillance, security and/or enforcement location; and two or more removable modules having equipment for performing surveillance, security and/or enforcement operations, wherein the container has a housing with at least one opening for receiving the two or more modules into the container. The unit may be comprised as part of a vehicle. The advantage of this arrangement is that it is flexible and can be deployed to meet temporary requirements, changing requirements, and can be easily equipped to meet differing roles. The deployable surveillance, security and/or enforcement unit may comprise removable modules including: a command module; a reconnaissance module; a sampling and diagnostic laboratory module; a decontamination module; and/or a utilities module.

A wheel assembly for a remote vehicle comprises a wheel structure comprising a plurality of spokes interconnecting a rim and a hub. The spokes comprise at least one slit extending therethrough radially inward from the rim to the hub. The assembly also comprises a flipper structure comprising an arm, a plurality of legs, and an attachment base. The plurality of legs and the attachment base comprise a four-bar linkage. The assembly further comprises an insert comprising a bore with a flat surface that tapers outward from a top portion to a bottom portion of the insert. The insert being configured to couple the flipper structure to the wheel structure via an axle on the remote vehicle and prevent backlash between the axle and the flipper structure. The flipper structure being configured to transmit axial forces to the wheel structure. The wheel structure being configured to absorb radial and axial forces.

Systems and methods of manipulating/controlling robots. In many scenarios, data collected by a sensor (connected to a robot) may not have very high precision (e.g., a regular commercial/inexpensive sensor) or may be subjected to dynamic environmental changes. Thus, the data collected by the sensor may not indicate the parameter captured by the sensor with high accuracy. The present robotic control system is directed at such scenarios. In some embodiments, the disclosed embodiments can be used for computing a sliding velocity limit boundary for a spatial controller. In some embodiments, the disclosed embodiments can be used for teleoperation of a vehicle located in the field of view of a camera.

The present disclosure is directed to mobile correctional facility robots and systems and methods for coordinating mobile correctional facility robots to perform various tasks in a correctional facility. The mobile correctional facility robots can be used to perform many of the tasks traditionally assigned to correctional facility guards to help reduce the number of guards needed in any given correctional facility. When cooperation is employed among multiple mobile correctional facility robots to execute tasks, a central controller can be used to coordinate the efforts of the multiple robots to improve the performance of the overall system of robots as compared to the performance of the robots when working in uncoordinated effort to execute the tasks.

Various implementations include unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) and methods for providing security for a UAV. In various implementations, a processor of the UAV may receive sensor data from a plurality of UAV sensors about an object in contact with the UAV. The processor may determine an authorization threshold based on the received sensor data. The processor may determine whether the object is authorized based on the received sensor data and the determined authorization threshold.