Detecting, locating, and identifying radioactive materials in large public areas can be a timeconsuming and labor-intensive task to perform manually, distracting officers from other important security tasks. The use of quadruped robots like the Boston Dynamics Spot, presents a means to automate patrol missions. Boston Dynamics provides a software development kit (SDK) that allows users to write custom code in Python to control the robot. In this study, a custom GRID detector developed by Physical Sciences Inc (PSI), made up of multiple Kromek D3S detectors, has been integrated with Spot via the Spot-CORE (a payload computer), allowing Spot to facilitate the radiation measurements. The GRID detector constantly pulls data from the integrated D3S detectors to identify the radiation sources (isotopes) and their direction with respect to the detector setup. An algorithm has been developed, that controls the Spot robot to patrol a pre-recorded path and perform automated radiation measurements with the GRID detector. When the GRID detector detects an isotope, an additional protocol prompts the Spot robot to divert from the current path toward the source location using the source angle provided by the GRID detector. The radiation data and the robot location corresponding to each step are stored locally and fed to the confirmation routine. The confirmation routine allows the user to navigate Spot to the locations of the highest gamma counts to perform a long measurement (e.g., a one-minute measurement) and provide the operators with the signature gamma spectra. This paper will describe in detail the configuration of the robotic system and present results obtained from preliminary tests in identifying the location, direction, and signature of a test radiation source within the facility.
Year
2024
Abstract