Design and development of TALON Robot
A Talon robot is a prototype ?Unmanned Ground vehicle? that is to be designed for the use of military for surveillance purpose. Over the past several decades, unmanned and remote controlled ground vehicles have seen a large increase in technology advancements and have since been used in various fiel
2025-06-28 16:31:26 - Adil Khan
Design and development of TALON Robot
Project Area of Specialization Mechatronics EngineeringProject SummaryA Talon robot is a prototype ‘Unmanned Ground vehicle’ that is to be designed for the use of military for surveillance purpose. Over the past several decades, unmanned and remote controlled ground vehicles have seen a large increase in technology advancements and have since been used in various fields. Today, innumerable universities and research institution are working on enhancing the performance characteristics of UGVs. The idea behind the project is to design, model and fabricate a talon robot, to be cost effective and useful in various circumstances where it is impractical for human capability. Providing a means of surveillance to remote and inaccessible areas where threat to human life is eminent. Powered with rechargeable batteries, motors will provide required torque and power to drive the vehicle. The 3-DOF robotic arm increases the UGV’s range of applications. The arm can be used to inspect or engage with possible dangerous items to reduce the threat to human life UGV combined with the robotic arm capabilities can limit the direct involvement of human beings. For our project, we have developed a model on CREO software and analysis was done on Ansys. This project will prove to be valuable to civil and military purpose to perform different activities.
Project Objectives. World is faced with national and international security concerns, nowadays. Scientists are working extensively to provide solutions to the growing security issues. We are living in the technological world and the solution to this problem too is hiding in technology. With the advancement in the fields of technology, operations are handled by machines rather than human-beings to help save human life. Our project TALON robot would be armed with an automatic weapon mounted on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), and a metal detector to detect mines and underground explosives with a robotic arm to pick things, or to dispose explosives with the assistance of an on-board camera. The vehicle will be driven with an electric motor. Remote operator would be getting a live video feed from the camera to help him manually control the above-mentioned units.
The aim of our project is to design and develop an unmanned ground vehicle with mounted mine detector and robotic arm with gripper that can be controlled automatically via a remote with human operator.
The objectives are:
1. To design a vehicle that can be remote operated.
2. To design a robotic arm with gripper, from which operator can dispose the explosive.
3. To design a mine detector that can detect underground mines and explosives and stop automatically after detecting.
4. To mount camera on the UGV which gives a clear visualization to the operator at the control place and help to operate safely.
In order to achieve the best design, we have to consider different options for the design of our TALON. For that we have studied different kinds of structures that are possible, and we will select the best suitable for our purpose. We are also considering two different options for the power source for the mobility of our TALON, either it will be an engine driven or electrically powered. We are aiming to design a robust TALON which is capable of performing high profile tasks with simple structure and design.
Although wheeled vehicles are found to be more efficient than tracked vehicles mainly because of reduced friction between tire suspension and running gear, thus resulting is in lesser fuel storage or smaller battery requirement. Although wheeled platforms have lesser fuel requirement, the tracked platforms provide better survival chance due to its compactness. Therefore terrain and situation are usually the major factor behind selection of wheeled or tracked platform. Stability and low ground pressures are the parameters which we are most interested in and are provided by tracks.
Being a new team required a clear idea of basic requirements, parameters in designing of UGV. We made a detailed study on UGV. We approached our design by considering all possible alternatives for a system and modeling them in CREO software and subjected to analysis using ANSYS. Based on analysis result, the model was modified and a final design was fixed.The design process of the vehicle is based on various engineering aspects depending upon Safety and Ergonomics, Market Availability, Cost of the Components and Safe Engineering Practices.
Hollow beams were used to design the chassis. Three different models were designed and were analyzed on ANSYS software; each was initially analyzed for its stress, weight and deformation.
For our gripper design we have selected servo-electric grippers because of following reasons
• Low maintenance
• Easily controllable
• Highly flexible
After that we have done kinematic and dynamic analysis of Robotic Arma and UGV on CREO to find the maximum forces acting on different parts. It also gives maximum velocity and acceleration of UGV. After successful analysis of design and selecting suitable material the next step would be fabrication and automation. Automation is performed on the specific parts that have to be automate. Automation is done using Arduino and programming it on computer. After Fabrication and automation, testing is required to check if its working properly.
Terrorism is one of the most prominent and explosive delinquent evil of third world countries and has become a dilemma for the whole world. Scientists and governments are working to design a system to safeguard their citizens and bring these situations under control. In modern day world, most dangerous operations are being handled by machines because of their preciseness and secondly human life matters more than machine.
The TALON can be used in times of military warfare to monitor forces entering the territory. These can also be used on battlefield if it would be equipped with explosives, shield and weapons and prove to be a useful asset rather than costing human life.
Our project TALON can also be used for several other purposes and applications such as:
1) Bomb/Mine Detection and Disposal
2) Border patrol and surveillance
3) Active Combat Situations
4) To undertake dangerous missions which involves loss of human life.
5) Search and Rescue
The applied technologies on our project will bring about a robot that will controlled by a human operator via remote control, and that will detect underground mines and dispose the explosives, if needed. This robot called TALON will proved to be a useful device for national defense sector. The function of remote controlled gives the advantage of travelling devise from one point to another with the human command. We were aiming for an optimized design which will be able to perform the required tasks. Our TALON will be electrically powered with a battery. It includes surveillance cameras, mine detecting device, and an excavator (robotic arm). Robotic arm will be controlled by links that are operated with electric motors and actuators. Our purpose of simple design is to minimize the cost as Pakistan is importing these TALONs from USA at the cost of 18 million PKR.
We are aiming to design a robust TALON which is capable of performing high profile tasks with simple structure and design. A metal detector is mounted on it to detect underground mines and explosives. Robotic arm is also mounted to dispose the explosives detected by the metal detector. Human operator controls the vehicle from a distance. To accurately operate vehicle, the sensors used for vehicle positioning and the camera employed for visual display plays a primary role, which allows the operator to assess and visualize vehicles’ environment.
Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry ManufacturingOther IndustriesCore Technology RoboticsOther Technologies Artificial Intelligence(AI)Sustainable Development Goals Good Health and Well-Being for People, Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 57600 | |||
| Motor | Equipment | 7 | 2000 | 14000 |
| Battery | Equipment | 1 | 4000 | 4000 |
| Surveillance Camera | Equipment | 1 | 4000 | 4000 |
| Sensor | Equipment | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Belt drive | Equipment | 2 | 2000 | 4000 |
| Arduino | Equipment | 3 | 1200 | 3600 |
| Screen | Equipment | 1 | 4000 | 4000 |
| Foundary Work | Equipment | 1 | 10000 | 10000 |
| Gripper | Equipment | 1 | 2000 | 2000 |
| Material | Equipment | 1 | 5000 | 5000 |
| Printing and Stationery | Miscellaneous | 5 | 1000 | 5000 |