9320138 Dubowsky This award, in the Small Grants for Exploratory Research, supports preliminary investigation of the potential role of robotics in field conservation, restoration, and preservation, using as a demonstration the exploration and later restoration of the historic Navy vessel, the USS Constitution. Thi effort seeks to determine appropriate design approaches for multirobot systems to be used in making measurements, detecting defects, and ultimately participating in repair and restoration operations, and to identify basic problems facing such robotic applications. Questions include modes of cooperation, communication demands, sensing demands, need for minimalist computing, and need for separate systems for inspection and remediation. The project is expected to yield valuable insights into the appropriate design and employment of robots for such field conservation and restoration operations, and also should lead to a highly-visible demonstration of robotic capabilities in less-structured environments. 9It might also make a good test of practical potential of the Brooksian approach to multirobot architecture). The PI will be working with conservators, conservation scientists, and the Naval Historian for the Constitution, and the overall operations will be guided by an advisory panel.
