UASS - Unmanned Autonomous System of Swarm
UASS is a project to create an effective interface for a single operator to control groups of unmanned autonomous systems, or UAS. Using the Unity3D Game Engine, our interface consists of simple mouse controlled selection and movement commands to make it as easy as possible to control a variety of UAS from a virtual environment. UAS position in the real world is reflected onto a preconstructed 3D environment map to the user to provide accurate, up-to-date information. Not only can one operator control several of their own UAS, but upon the start of our Unity server, any number of users can join the session, add the UAS they wish under their control, and see the locations of other operator's robots on the server.
Currently, our system supports the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 air drones and Pioneer ground robots. These UAS are controlled through the use of ROS, the robot operating system. Our ROS nodes allows communication with the Unity environment through an internet connection where each of the UAS conceived positions are updated with new data constantly.
UASS has the potential to be used in a variety of useful applications from further robotics research to developing efficient search and rescue programs.
Problem-domain Book
AI for Game Developers by David M. Bourg & Glenn Seemann
Additional Resources
Robotics Operating System (ROS)
ROS is main framework on which our UAS and Unity3D communicates with each other.
The TUM ARDrone Package is the driver for the aerial based ARDrone.
ROSARIA is the driver for our ground based Pioneer drones.
Unity3D game engine provides the user interface for the system. Unity3D takes commands from the user, and then sends the commands to a ROS node that distributes the commands to units.