Autonomous Solutions is working with the US Naval Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) to develop a "persistent stare" capability with its Chaos unmanned ground vehicle.
The work, part of SPAWAR's Man-Portable ISR UGV program, calls for adding a diesel generator, communications equipment and an antenna to the vehicle. The goal is to improve the mission duration from hours to days, allowing the Chaos to accomplish such tasks as travelling several miles to a location and sending back relevant video.
"At the JGRE conference in March, Lt Gen Rick Lynch, commanding general of the Army's III Corps, identified the persistent stare mission as one of the top upcoming applications for robots in combat," says Mel Torrie, Autonomous Solutions chief executive. "Autonomous Solutions is excited about this opportunity to be one of the first to help fill this need."
The timeline is short: the goal is to demonstrate the newly configured Chaos at the Cobra Gold exercise in Thailand in February 2010, which means the company will need to have the integrated system to SPAWAR in October and be ready to ship it out in January.
"They chose our platform because it was kind of an open platform, and it's easy to accommodate new sensors," says Chris Brown, business development manager for Logan, Utah-based Autonomous Solutions.
The new configuration will put some weight on the slim robot; it will need to carry the generator, fuel, sensor suite, antennas and a zipper mast.
"The idea is to try to keep the mobility," Brown says. "We'll have a lot of extra weight, and the center of gravity will be higher. We are going to try to maintain the mobility we have but with the extra payload."
Autonomous Solutions will be featuring this new work and other programs - including a new real-time, 3D visualization technology for the Talon UGV - at the show.
Source: Flight Daily News
