Obstacles/Mines

Overview:

  The terrain between the ingress/launch point and the hostage building has been prepared by the red team (terrorists) to delay hostage rescue teams and alert the guards in the event of a rescue attempt.  Each team will face a different combination of mines and obstacles along the set of potential routes.

Details: 

Obstacles: 

Obstacles are permanent barriers that deny ground based movement along a route.  Obstacles will be placed at the midpoint between covered/hide positions and will be indicated by an 8 ft x 20 ft colored cloth staked onto the ground perpendicular to the route.  EOD robots/UGVs and commandos cannot cross an obstacle or deviate around an obstacle along a route. Each scenario will have 3 obstacles to detect and locate.

Mines: 

Mines are semi-permanent, active obstacles that if triggered will destroy an EOD robot or a commando team.  Mines have no effect on MAVs unless the MAV is riding on a UGV that triggers a mine. Mines can be disarmed by an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) UGV that moves into the radius of effect of the mine and indicates that the mine is disarmed.   The MAV is permitted to land within the 10m radius of a mine and “disarm” the mine following the same procedures as an EOD robot.  Mines can be located at any point along a route.  Mines have a 10 meter radius of effect.  Mines will be visible against the soil as a 15 cm diameter perforated black disk, flush with the surface of the ground.  Each scenario will have 6 mines positioned along the routes on the demonstration site.  Two mines out of the six mines will have an associated chemical vapor that can be detected using an olfactory sensor.  If a mine is detonated the mine is considered destroyed and will not affect any subsequent passage by UGV or commando.  EOD Robots and Commandos can deviate around a mine along a route under specific guidance from the ground control station.

Chemical Mine Composition: 

Each chemical mine will consist of 930 g of surrogate material placed in a ceramic pot with a surface area of approximately 175 cm2 exposed to open air.
Ingredients                                                % Weight
(i)  Silica, SiO2                                           92.5
(ii) 2,4,6-TNT, C7H5N3O6                            7.5

Note:  The timely ability of the MAV to geo-locate mines is critical to the success of the mission.  Each scenario has at multiple paths from the ingress point to the hostage building.  At least one paths contains only a single mine on the ingress path.  If this path is identified and the UGV clears this mine to create a clear ingress path, the commando team can then pass without threat of a mine to the bank building.  Other paths with a greater number of mines can be cleared with similar effect.  Detecting all or more mines is not essential but will slightly enhance the team’s score.  Clearing more than one mine does not enhance the team’s score.