The Maneuver Battle Lab revealed a glimpse into the long run because the Usa and North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations collaborated to apply one another’s robots in military operations.
The lab conducted an interoperability experiment July 17 on the McKenna Urban Operations Complex to illustrate how U.S., Turkish and German technical developers could use their respective controllers and integrated software to share and operate other country’s unmanned ground systems to finish tactical tasks.
Jim Parker, associate director of Ground Vehicle Robotics on the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren, Mich., said the usage of unmanned ground systems is in its infancy as an army capability, but engineers are making tremendous advancements toward interoperable robotics with NATO allies.
“Over the decade, nearly all of their use at the ground was in support of explosive ordinance missions,” he said. “What we’re seeking to do is expand the potential of the robotic platform to allow them to do an increasing number of to assist the warriors at the field.”
Tollie Strode, project officer with Unmanned Systems Team for the Maneuver Battle Lab, said after hours of software integration and testing, teams of engineers used the U.S., Turkish and German controllers to move the Talon IV and Turkish Kaplan robots alongside Soldiers through an urban village and wooded environment. Future robots could be ready to receive missions and self-navigate inside the same terrain while being monitored by operators along scripted paths to detect explosive devices and decrease the danger of injuries among Soldiers.
Strode said the robots may also be used to accomplish sustainment tasks together with ammunition and water resupply or medical tasks including casualty evacuation. The facility to exploit another country’s unmanned ground systems presents quite a lot of opportunities and benefits in missions starting from peacekeeping to combat.
“We’re gaining a primary step in gaining interoperability with our NATO allies, that is a key thrust going forward in addition to providing inoperability standards that enables us to leverage into the economic industry and provides us advance technologies,” Parker said.
Officers and NCOs observed the robots and controllers in action to offer operational feedback about their interoperability. Capt. Stephen Akins, of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 199th Infantry Brigade, recently graduated from Captains Career Course and appears forward to future advancement within the field.
“It’s a superb opportunity to work out the equipment and notice what these new robots can do,” Akins said. “Instead of getting a Soldier check out something suspicious, you have an unmanned vehicle have a look … to prevent injury.”
Maj. James Farrer, executive officer of the Maneuver Battle Lab, said the experiment is a good step within the technique of creating technology this is efficient and effective for tomorrow’s warfare strategies.
“We all look to the long run, and all of us watch for collaboration and having commonality and coalitions to make interoperability between nations easier,” he said. “I think experimentation, even in its current climate is much more important than before.”
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