The Bot Board (BOTS)

[SPIN]

Ground Vehicles A Larger Presence At Unmanned Vehicle Exhibiton

By KRIS OSBORN

The helicopter-like RQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hovered above the runway, ground robots used sensor cameras to beam back images of insurgents in a mock exercise, and hand-held Raven UAVs flew up to transmit video of the surrounding terrain — all at the opening-day live demonstrations for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International annual show.

The first day of Unmanned Systems North America 2007 was held at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., where some of the 292 U.S. and international exhibitors displayed their hardware and participated in live demonstrations. Overall, more than 4,000 visitors are expected to attend.

A key development this year was the increased presence of unmanned ground systems and ground robots, exhibitors and military officials said. General Dynamics Robotic Systems, Foster-Miller and iRobot were all featured prominently in the demonstrations.

“This is a great time for unmanned ground vehicles. In previous years,there were few unmanned ground vehicles at this show. This year, about one-third are ground,” said Helen Greiner, iRobot co-founder and chairman of the board.
iRobot has more than 1,000 tele-operated robots fielded in Iraq and Afghanistan, clearing buildings and searching for roadside bombs.

Armed Robots

The U.S. Army plans to increase orders of 200-pound remote-controlled weaponized robots now shooting at insurgents in Iraq. The U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division has deployed three Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System (SWORDS) in Iraq, according to SWORDS-maker Foster-Miller. The deployment of these machine-gun firing robots marks the first deployment of armed ground robots in military history. The robots are remote-controlled or tele-operated by troops using a joystick and laptop display.

The SWORDS are equipped with five cameras to identify targets, including infrared and thermal sights along with a laser rangefinder. Once targets are found, the service member operating the robot pushes a button to fire the machine gun.
The performance of SWORDS in Iraq has led the Army to begin drafting an operational needs statement so more SWORDS can be ordered and shipped to the war zone.

“This is the first safety-certified armed robot platform in theater today. The express purpose is to send in a robot to those dangerous and dirty locations rather than risk a soldier’s life,” said Tim Everhard, TALON product development.
The machine guns are mounted on the chassis of a modified TALON, a robot made by Foster-Miller to clear caves and search for explosives. Foster-Miller now has more than 1,000 robots deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Able to move at 5 mph, the 200-pound SWORDS robot fires the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, the M240 machine-gun and the Barrett M109 .50-caliber sniper rifle.

Security-Guard Robots

By next month, the U.S. Army plans to field a security-guard robot that can walk its beat without human intervention, avoiding fixed and moving obstacles and detecting intruders up to 300 meters away.

During the live demonstration, the 9-foot, 3,500-pound Mobile Detection Assessment Response System (MDARS) robot used sensors to locate and confront insurgents in the exercise.

MDARS uses inertial and GPS navigation to roll around at 20 mph while beaming radar and infrared images to a control station, Army and General Dynamics Robotics Systems (GDRS) officials said. The MDARS radar can scan the surrounding area out to 300 meters twice a second, GDRS programmers said.

“Most of the robots we have clearing caves in Iraq and Afghanistan are tele-operated, meaning a human must direct their every move. This robot uses semi-autonomous navigation and can avoid obstacles and find its own way. This is a significant step forward,” said a Defense Department official with the Physical Security Action Group.

The group spends about $40 million to $60 million a year to develop force-protection technologies and is immersed in efforts to find joint-service interoperability among manned and unmanned assets.

The official said MDARS would be the Army’s first land-based semi-autonomous robot.

GD is negotiating a deal, expected to total about $70 million, to provide 24 to 30 robots, said Brian Frederick, who manages the MDARS program at GDRS. The deal includes spare robots, along with supporting systems, training and technical services.

“The MDARS can randomly patrol a certain area or drive along a predetermined path. It can detect intruders using the radar, and send the camera or video image back to the guard station, which can be several miles away from the patrol area,” Frederick said.

The first six MDARS robots, slated to deploy in September, are slated to go to the Hawthorne Army depot in Nevada, Army and GDRS officials said.

http://defensenews.com/story.php?F=2951265&C=america