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Soldier Protective Clothing and Equipment: Feasibility of Chemical Testing Using a Fully Articulated Robotic Mannequin
7
A Complementary Approach to Meeting PETMAN System Goals
During the course of this study, the complexity of designing and constructing a PETMAN system became evident. Therefore, feasible and complementary avenues involving existing technologies were discussed that could meet many of the requirements specified for PETMAN in a short period and at much lower cost. In this chapter, we discuss one such feasible approach that uses a sensor-integrated body suit under the soldier individual protection ensembles (IPE) that would provide substantial improvements over current testing methods. This approach meets many of the PETMAN requirements, but does not provide for testing IPE in a live chemical agent environment.
The current Man-in-Simulant Test (MIST) uses soldiers rather than mannequins; this offers the benefit of real human movements. Recreating human movement, respiration, perspiration, and body proportions in a robotic system is a difficult and expensive proposition. One of the failings of MIST is its method of leak detection. Participants are outfitted with passive collection systems that provide a total exposure value with no spatial resolution to associate a leak with any particular movement and no periodic sampling for temporal analysis over the two-hour test duration. Another failing of the MIST is the inability to use an actual agent. However, if gases and vapors of equal molecular size and concentration diffuse and penetrate at equal rates, an appropriate simulant will diffuse through a breach in the suit and compromise its integrity in a manner similar to that of an actual agent.
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Soldier Protective Clothing and Equipment: Feasibility of Chemical Testing Using a Fully Articulated Robotic Mannequin
THE SENSOR-INTEGRATED BODY SUIT
As discussed in Chapter 5, smart textiles or wearable electronic systems provide a possible platform for creating a real-time chemical sensing network.1 There are also sufficiently mature technologies, to construct a whole-body integrated-sensor suit outfitted with real-time sensing of chemicals, ambient and body temperature, humidity, and such vital signs as heart rate and electrocardiographic readings in a stand-alone or self-contained mode.
The sensor-integrated body suit (SIBS) would meet the PETMAN requirements in Box 5-1 similar to the PETMAN soft skin (see Chapter 5), but would be worn by soldiers on the body and under the IPE. It could have a base fabric of typical textile materials used in military underclothing, such as Meraklon® (staple polypropylene fiber), or cotton, polyester, and blends and could be made to be form-fitting with spandex (see Chapter 5). Optical fibers can be integrated into the ensemble to take advantage of optical chemical-sensing technologies (see Chapter 3), which have demonstrated real-time detection of target chemicals that meets the optimal PETMAN concentration requirements. Although, it is likely that additional effort will be needed to develop the technology for this test application. Figure 7.1 is a diagrammatic representation of the form-fitting SIBS.
The IPE to be tested would be worn by the soldier over the form-fitting body suit, thereby ensuring that no changes are made to the IPE for the purpose of testing. With the SIBS, all the key requirements denoted in Box 5.1 can be met except the use of real chemical agents during the testing. Thus, a sensor-integrated approach can provide a real-world test environment and meet many of the PETMAN requirements.
Advantages of the SIBS
The proposed complementary approach will allow for a significant improvement in MIST without the expense and associated risk associated with a fully developed PETMAN at a small fraction of the costs in money and time. Using the SIBS will have the added advantage of real-time monitoring of temperature and humidity and of the vital signs of the test subject. Testing would incorporate time-stamped video recording to correlate body movements and initial IPE locations with all measurements accurately.
The SIBS would allow testing for all sizes of soldiers, not just the 50th percentile male measurements specified in Section 3.2.2 of the PETMAN requirements document. In addition, using actual soldiers will eliminate the
1
Service, R. F. 2003. News Focus Technology: Electronic Textiles Charge Ahead. Science, 301(5635):909-911; Park, S., and S. Jayaraman. 2003. Smart Textiles: Wearable Electronic Systems. MRS Bulletin (August 2003):585-591.
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Soldier Protective Clothing and Equipment: Feasibility of Chemical Testing Using a Fully Articulated Robotic Mannequin
FIGURE 7.1 A form-fitting sensor-integrated body suit (SIBS) on a 50th percentile male.
cost and risk associated with robot development. Only a human moves like a human. The cost and technical difficulty of accurately mimicking human physiology are daunting. The proposed sensor-integrated approach would allow real-time monitoring and a huge variety of soldier movements and so provide added validation of suit integrity. This approach also eliminates the cost and potential hazards associated with the use of live agents.
Disadvantages of the SIBS
A potential drawback of this complementary approach is the inability to use live agents. If the test is designed to detect breaches in suit integrity, a live agent is not necessary. However, if the test is designed to assess the
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Soldier Protective Clothing and Equipment: Feasibility of Chemical Testing Using a Fully Articulated Robotic Mannequin
TABLE 7.1 A Comparative Assessment of PETMAN and Complementary Approach
PETMAN
SIBS on Human
Simulation of human movement
Poor and expensive
Excellent; minimal limitations
Performance in extreme environments
Minimal limitations
Human-like limitations
Use of actual agents
Yes
No
Problems with actual agents
Yes; decontamination required; potentially high cost if mannequin is compromised
Yes; cannot use; no requirement for specialized facility
Determination of breaches of IPE that result in chemical penetration
Yes
Yes
Simulation of human physiology
Poor
Excellent
Simulation of multiple soldier sizes
Single size, 50th percentile male
Available for all soldiers
Standalone (self-contained) use
No
Yes
behavior of an IPE in a live chemical environment, this requirement will not be met with the SIBS. Reproducibility and repeatability of defined motions are two key advantages of a robotic system. The SIBS would be worn by soldiers, and this might increase the acceptance of the test results in the soldier community, but the inherent variations introduced by human involvement could be another drawback of the proposed complementary solution.
A comparative analysis of PETMAN and the proposed complementary approach of the SIBS is provided in Table 7.1.
CONCLUSION
The SIBS approach would meet a large majority of the objective testing requirements at a small fraction of the cost of PETMAN. If there is an absolute requirement for a PETMAN robot, the sensor-integrated approach could provide many of the key capabilities in the near term. This complementary approach would offer substantial improvements over current testing methods while the critical paths for PETMAN development are being explored.