Most military programs don’t coordinate news releases with major motion pictures. With Iron Man in theaters and getting reviews that may get DID’s staff to go see it, Raytheon is taking the time to promote its US Army-funded exoskeleton suit. Originally funded under a 7-year, $75 million DARPA program, the suite has now gone on to the next stage under a 2-year, $10 million follow-on Army grant:
The problem they’re trying to address is no stunt. The weight of a soldier’s equipment easily approaches 80-100 pounds, far higher than the 30 pounds recommended for maximum mobility. As we load our soldiers down with more technical gadgets, that weight tends to go up, not down. The USA and Japan are only a couple of the countries working on aspects of a mechanical exoskeleton that would give its wearers vastly improved strength and endurance. While Japanese demographic and cultural trends in particular are giving concepts like individual soldier augmentation a push, we can still expect a very long wait before we see exoskeletons that can deliver the required performance to justify their cost, can handle military conditions, and can be maintained in the field at reasonable cost. It’s far more likely that first fielding, if there is one, will involve more limited use by disabled soldiers, or be used like Cyberdyne Japan’s HAL-5 in private, para-public, and first responder roles. Raytheon release | Raytheon feature | Popular Science [PDF].
The USA’s $160+ billion Future Combat Systems program aims to replace at least 1/3 of the USA’s land forces. The program’s original mandate had its components replacing the USA’s heavy armor, but that plan collided with the reality of front-line experience in Iraq. FCS is now slated to be a set of medium forces that are slightly more deployable than a Heavy Brigade Combat Team, but still cannot fit into the C-130s that are expected to make up the USA’s tactical airlifter fleet. The concept of an integrated set of vehicles, robots, sensors, and UAVs, all backed by a high-performance network, remains.
The US Government Accountability Office has been asked to report on the program every year, and its 2008 report suggests that FCS is reaching a critical stage on 2 fronts: system design and development, and software design and development. Their overall 2008 report says that…
I’ll start this with a big tip of the hat to DARPA and its director, Dr. Tony Tether, who has one of the world’s best jobs. Not only do they push the bleeding edge and come up with clever ways to engage the research community in their endeavors, but they run well-managed events with a flair for showmanship that belies their status as a government and military agency. As an example of the latter, they had arranged for the Urban Challenge webcast and on-site video to be co-hosted by Jamie Hyneman and Grant Imahara of Myth Busters, the techie crowd’s favorite TV show.
They also have the guts to invite in the world press and the general public while trying something new to the world: Turning multiple autonomous vehicles loose on city streets at the same time, interspersed with human drivers. As Tether said at the start of the program, “If anyone tells you he knows what’s going to happen, he’s lying.”
Since that test could likely take every bit of a short November day, the teams, staff and press assembled for their briefings at a chilly and dark 0600 hours. The day featured robot traffic jams, the world’s first ‘bot vs. ‘bot collision, and the Terramax robot truck’s attempt to take out the old air base PX.
Goodrich Corp. subsidiary Sensors Unlimited Inc. in Princeton, NJ received a $1.25 million increment of a $5.7 million cost plus fixed fee contract to develop extremely small, lightweight, shortwave infrared imaging sensors on a chip. They’ll be used in helmet-mounted and micro air/ground vehicles.
The primary goal of this program is to establish the micro-systems technology for extremely light weight, low power cameras with the performance necessary for medium to short range applications. Micro-air and micro-ground platforms and helmet mounted applications require some special features: sensor operation at room temperature or with extremely low power cooling and temperature stabilization, micro-packages with operational lifetimes consistent with military operations, and optics and electronics consistent with the platform. DARPA specifically excluded research targeted at evolutionary improvements; innovations in optical and detecting materials, sensor design and fabrication, signal processing, and micro-packaging will be necessary to achieve their extremely light weight goals.
The first phase of the program will demonstrate the feasibility of integrating an imaging array into a micro-package of the size and weight necessary, with measured data supported by models and calculations predicting performance. Options may be exercised to continue the program after this initial demonstration; if they’re exercised, the second phase will feature a feasibility demonstration of an integrated system. Work will be performed in Princeton, NJ (93%), White Plains, MD (3%), and Woodland Hills, CA (4%) and is expected to be complete February 2009. Funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. DARPA posted Broad Agency Announcement BAA06-46 “Micro-Sensors for Imaging (MISI)” on the Federal Business Opportunities website on Oct 3/06, and 10 proposals were received (HR0011-08-C-0011).
In May 2005, DID covered the use of remote-control toys in Iraq, as improvised robots to check out possible roadside bombs. It would appear that someone took notice, because there has since been a flurry of activity on the robotic explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) front. Meanwhile, deliveries of smaller and cheaper MARCBOTs and BomBots are underway.
DefenseLink notes in its announcements that “The increase in production quantity is due to the urgent and compelling need for units that are forward deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.” So, what exactly is the MTRS program? DID explains, and covers the latest news and contract information for MTRS robots. It has been a while since our last update, with acquisitions, rising contract ceilings, new contracting agencies, and new robots all entering the mix. Per DID convention, new items are indicated in green type…
AIBO: Move over,
little dog…
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Small business qualifier Boston Dynamics, Inc. in Waltham, MA has received a $10 million completion-type, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to build a dog-like robot with the capability to run fast, traverse trough terrain, jump over obstacles 1 meter (40”) tall or 2 meters wide, and operate for 2 hours without refueling. The goal of this effort is to create legged robots that mimic animal structure, mechanics and control, in order to achieve animal-like strength, speed and mobility. The priority application is a robot that could eventually accompany Marines and other troops in the field as a load-carrier across nearly any terrain. This 15-month contract also includes 3 one-year options which would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $40 million if exercised.
M113A2 Dozer, Canada
by Luc Desmoreaux
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The US Army held its 5th annual “top 10 greatest inventions” ceremony recently in Arlington, VA, recognizing the Top 10 inventions of 2006. The top picks were chosen by Soldiers from active-Army divisions and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command according to three criteria: impact on Army capabilities, potential benefits outside the Army and inventiveness.
Three of this year’s top inventions are geared toward defeating IED land mines, and there’s even one tracked armored blast from the past. Most inventions have already been fielded to soldiers on the front lines, and the list includes….
Northrop Grumman subsidiary Remotec, Inc. in Clinton, TN received a $45 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for robotic systems, accessories, spare parts, depot level repair support, and operator and technician training. Work will be performed in Clinton, TN and is expected to be complete in February 2011. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD (N00019-07-D-0013).
The DefenseLINK release adds that they “are being procured for use in pre-deployment training and contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Note that Remotec UK makes the Wheelbarrow robots that have seen over a decade of use in Northern Ireland and beyond, and also manufactures the CUTLASS wheeled robot that recently won Britain’s future EOD-bot competition. Remotec USA’s ANDROS family of robots, meanwhile, includes the F6A Andros heavy-duty, Mini-Andros II, Mark V-A1, and Wolverine models. Remotec has won one previous Navy contract for EOD robots on November 26, 2001, valued at $5.6 million.
The US Navy leads procurement of explosive ordnance search & disposal (EOD) robots for the US military, including the MTRS program, which is buying substantial quantities of iRobot Packbot and QinetiQ TALON robots. They are also looking ahead to a next-generation set, with development beginning in 2008 and fielding in 2012-2013.
DID has an entire category covering UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) robots and waldos, as a proliferation of these devices heads for the world’s conflict zones. Back in America, DARPA’s Grand Challenge dared inventors to produce a true robotic vehicle that could navigate a per-set course with no human assistance. Now Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is offering one million Singapore dollars ($652,000) in the TechX challenge to whoever develops a robot that completes a stipulated set of tasks related to urban warfare.
“DSTA wants to create a robot that “must, on its own, be able to navigate both indoors and outdoors in an urban landscape and accomplish a set of assigned tasks within a stipulated time”.... This robot must be able to negotiate a staircase and use the elevator to dash from one floor to another without the aid of satellite navigation, which may not be available indoors.”
Non-Singaporean firms may participate, as long as they collaborate with local partners. Applications are due by the end of May 2007, and the shortlist will be announced in June 2007. A qualifying round will take place in May 2008, with the final round and time/finish competition scheduled for August 2008. See January 24, 2007 New Scientist article.
Small business qualifier Qualis Corp. in Huntsville, AL received an $8 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, time and materials contract to provide technical, management, and logistics services in support of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps Robotics Systems Joint Project Office. This Congressionally-mandated entity exists to coordinate robotic vehicle development across the DoD, and works according to the DoD’s “UGV Master Plan 2005.” Programs under its influence include MTRS (iRobot & TALON) mine-disposal robots, the USMC’s Gladiator light combat robot, MDARS UAV carrier, and others. DID covered one of their working groups in its June 2005 article “Battlefield Robots: to Iraq, and Beyond.”
Services to be provided by Qualis include management and technical support and service for management of robotic systems and related life cycle logistics and acquisition. Work will be performed in Huntsville, AL (80%); and various Army and Marine Corps repair facilities located in Iraq and Afghanistan (20%), and is expected to be complete in January 2008; but all contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under an electronic request for proposals as a 100% small business set-aside, with 6 offers received by the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division in Orlando, FL (N61339-06-D-0020).
