Over the next decade ground robots will steadily assume more diverse missions than the niche bomb disposal and intelligence-gathering duties they have performed for years, according to Army officials.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley often explains that a “fundamental change” to the way wars are fought is in the offing. At the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual exposition in Washington, D.C., he said there is little question that from the 2020s, ground robots will play a significant role in combat logistics and other roles.
“We already use robots in the military in a limited way with unmanned aerial vehicles,” he said. “The scope of robots in military operations is not yet widespread and that is likely to change in the very near future as unmanned fighter-bombers, unmanned surface and subsurface naval vessels come online. We are likely, very likely, to see increased use of robots in ground operations as the technology matures.”
The Army is focused on how potential adversaries like Russia and China are fielding robots and trying to keep pace. Russian General of the Army Valery Gerasimov is pushing for 30 percent of his nation’s fielded forces to be robotic by 2020, Milley said.
“He may not actually achieve that goal, but his intent and his direction is clear,” Milley said.
The Army has its own robotics and autonomous vehicle roadmap that has begun to spin off actual programs for which companies are beginning to pitch robot designs. Predictably, with the Army shopping for robots that perform more “dull, dirty and dangerous” duties, manufacturers of remote-controlled unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and subsystems attended AUSA in force. Several new robot and control-system designs were launched at the show.
Companies including Endeavor Robotics (formerly iRobot) and Israeli startup Roboteam displayed vehicles that likely will compete for the Common Robotic System – Individual (CRS-I), which will be a small system that can be carried and deployed by a single soldier.
Harris [HRS] displayed its T7 explosive ordnance disposal system that was designed as a modular, upgradeable system for disarming vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. The T7 on display was controlled by an innovative joystick control that allowed the robotic arms to mimic the operator’s hand movements.
Milrem and QinetiQ North America [QNA] launched Titan, a modular, hybrid unmanned ground vehicle that meets initial requirements put forth for the squad multipurpose equipment transport (SMET). The program seeks a robot that can haul a squad’s worth of soldier gear for the duration of a 72-hour patrol, has excess power margin to charge other devices on the go, is transportable by helicopter and is capable of carrying sensors and weaponry to defend itself.
Titan combines Milrem’s Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System with QinetiQ’s Tactical Robot Controller (TRC) and Robotic Appliqué Kit (RAK). Unlike existing UGVs, it was designed so that different superstructures can be easily mounted and integrated onto the platform for complex missions such as rescue, transport, combat, and reconnaissance.
The remaining hurdle for ground robots to clear before gaining wider acceptance among infantry soldiers is ease of use. Companies like Harris are investing as much time and effort on designing universal, intuitive, ergonomic control mechanisms as the robots they operate, Paul Bosscher, chief robotic systems engineer at Harris, told Defense Daily.
“Even within EOD, it’s a very complex job,” he said. “You don’t want to devote a large portion of your training to learning how to use a robot. For people who are in infantry or route clearance, to hand them a robot that is complicated to use is ultimately going be problematic. It’s going to take a long time to train on it. They are going to forget how to use it. They are going to make mistakes on the job and mistakes on this job can be big and bad.”
Former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Heidi Shyu threw her hat in with Roboteam when she left the Pentagon last year, signaling her understanding of the importance robots will have for the Army. Her acting replacement, Katrina McFarland, told reporters at AUSA that the Army is actively researching how robots can improve battlefield logistics.
“In our labs right now there is a lot of discussion about how to reduce the logistics and maintenance burden on soldiers through the use of things like autonomous … technologies that are coming out,” she said.