Robotics Give Flexibility to Military, Commercial Markets, Speakers Say
Maj. Gen. Robert M. Dyess. AUVSI photo.
As the U.S. Army continues to struggle with sequestration, it is planning a more extensive use of robotic systems to give it more flexibility with reduced budgets, said Maj. Gen. Robert M. Dyess, director of force development, U.S. Army G-8.
Dyess, the morning keynote speaker at AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems Program Review, said there are some points of light shining through the “large black cloud of sequestration,” but he still has extensive budget constraints.
The Army’s current equipment budget is $21 billion, down $10 billion from fiscal 2012. The Army is currently working on both its fiscal 2016 budget request and plans for fiscal 2017-2021 while remaining under a continuing resolution.
Partly to deal with these realities, the Army has created a new concept of operations which calls for allowing it to win a war when “the Army cannot predict who it will fight, where it will fight and what coalitions it will fight with.”
That concept includes robotics, both purpose-built ground robots, appliqué kits that convert manned ground vehicles to unmanned ones and manned-unmanned teaming of air and ground vehicles.
“In fact, manned and unmanned teaming is already happening today in Afghanistan with our Apache fleet,” which is able to share information with Gray Eagle and Shadow UAS, Dyess said.
He noted that one place he didn’t have to cut was in science and technology.
“It’s a strange world where level is up. So I had to cut every portfolio except the science and technology portfolio, and so they remained at PB [president’s budget] ‘12 levels, which meant their budgets did not decline. … Science and technology will continue to be a receiver of funds from my resourcing perspective.”
As part of its pending budgets, the Army is looking to make some existing programs into programs of record, including the Common Robotics System Individual, a smaller robot intended to replace the already small SUGV, and the AMAS, or Autonomous Mobility Applique System. Even so, “they are still going to have to compete for funding,” he said.
“We’re standing on the edge of something right now, and I don’t think it’s a precipice,” Dyess said. “I think the future for unmanned systems is bright.”
Unmanned systems can bring similar benefits to the mining industry, according to Eric Reiners, manager of Automation Systems, Research and Advanced Engineering for Caterpillar, who was the keynote speaker for the afternoon session.
The mining industry is increasingly turning to automation to help solve a host of issues, from protecting its workers to reaching ores that are ever harder to get.
“The easy-to-get-to ores have already been gotten, so now they have to go to more and more remote locations to access the goods the world needs,” Reiners said.
While mine safety has increased dramatically over the last century, mine operations sometimes become complacent even with better safety procedures and training, he said. Just finding workers can be challenging, as operating heavy machinery was, in a survey by The Wall Street Journal, ranked below being a sanitation worker or a person who helps clean up nuclear plants.
“The industry certainly sees automation and autonomy as one of the ways we’ll be able to achieve those types of goals,” Reiners said.
The company has automated everything from small front-end loaders to enormous mining trucks that are as big as a 2,400-square-foot house and, fully loaded, can weigh 600 tons.
While significant levels of automation have been achieved, some technical hurdles remain, he said. For instance, the trucks need to be able to detect objects on the road as small as softballs, because rocks of that size can damage truck tires, which can cost as much as $100,000 each.
“We don’t have that completely solved,” he said.
Communications is also a big issue on far-flung mining sites, and the trucks need to be at least as productive as manned truck operations, which operate 24 hours a day.
Caterpillar’s trucks use a system called Minestar, “which is really the conductor of the mine site,” he said. The system includes GPS, object detection using machine learning and real-time dynamic stability modules that constantly monitor truck movement.
Reiners noted that Caterpillar has worked with NASA on automation technologies. He was asked by an audience member if the company has eyes on mining operations on the moon or Mars.
“Certainly in their [NASA’s] plans, it does contain the kinds of things that Caterpillar does here on Earth,” Reiners said.
AUVSI’s Unmanned Systems Program Review continues on Wednesday, focusing on air systems, and Thursday, focusing on maritime systems.
