RadioShack Replaced: America’s Full-Size Robots to Travel With Troops

MTRS: TALON IV

In 2005 children’s toys were being used by American soldiers on the front lines, to help them look for 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. The Man Transportable Robotic System program took off, and its military ground robots began making a difference long before protected MRAP vehicles began to arrive in numbers.

The Academy-award winning movie “The Hurt Locker” made bomb disposal famous, but the reality of it involves far more robots, and far fewer wearable bomb suits. MTRS robots are the larger, heavy duty options for Explosives Ordnance Disposal technicians, though smaller options are also in service. So, what exactly is the MTRS program?

Soldier Battle JTRS: The HMS Radio Set

PRC-154 with 75th RR

The Pentagon’s JTRS (Joint Tactical Radio System) aimed to replace existing radios in the American military with a single set of software-define radios that could have new frequencies and modes (“waveforms”) added via upload, instead of requiring multiple radio types in ground vehicles, and using circuit board swaps in order to upgrade. Trying to solve that set of problems across the entire American military meant taking on a very a big problem. Maybe too big. JTRS has seen cost overruns and full program restructurings, along with cancellation of some parts of the program.

JTRS HMS (Handheld, Manpack & Small Form-Fit) radios, for use by the individual solder, have survived the tumult, and are now headed into production. They offer soldiers more than just improved communications, and have performed in exercises and on the front lines. Now, production is ramping up.

ReconRobotics’ “throwbot” Micro-UGVs

Didn’t we meet
at the TSA?

For now, small “throwbots” sit at the smallest end of the robotic explosion in the modern US Army. “Battlefield Robots: to Iraq, and Beyond” discussed front-line troops’ initial use of robots like the Dragon Runner, especially in urban warfare. This class of robots has continued to evolve, and ReconRobotics inc. of Minneapolis, MN has been picking up contracts from the military and beyond for a clever design called the Recon Scout.

It won’t shovel your driveway after a Panhandle Hook has come through, but if you’re trying to see into the next room, or over a wall, or even under rubble after a natural disaster, ReconRobotics thinks they have just the thing for you.

• RR’s Twin Cities Throwbot [updated]
  
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
  
• Additional Readings
  

(Toy) “Trucks to Troops” Fights Land Mines

Military grade robots may have swarmed into war theaters as a US “Army of the Grand Robotic”, but the ingenuity and charity of hobbyists still has a place on America’s front lines. In the 2000s front-line troops started using remote-controlled toys then US military made a big push to investigate and destroy suspected land mines using military-grade robots instead.

Americans are a tinkering lot by nature. The remote-controlled toy trucks that some troops were already using to nudge suspicious packages, are a classic example. They work even better with a weatherproof wireless camera on board, for looking under vehicles. Which is what software engineer Ernest Fessenden of Rochester, MN put together for his deployed brother, Chris, with the help of a local store called Everything Hobby…

Beyond Siri: DARPA’s BOLT

Johnny 5

It’s 2020. A US soldier sits down with a village sheikh, with an unusual robot in tow. The sheikh greets him courteously, respectfully, in flowing Arabic. At the appropriate time, the robot offers the same speech in English. The soldier nods, speaks, and gives a command, whereupon the robot offers dependable translation that’s even customized to the local dialect. Offshore, an intelligence analyst sorts through a combination of intercepted emails, recorded cell phone conversations, and document archives, looking for patterns and connections. She’s not fluent in Arabic, but the same technology used by the soldier is providing usable translations for her searches – asking her questions as needed, and helped by embedded clarifications and tags.

Thanks to a 2003 DARPA program, The world got to know Siri, the show-stealing component of Apple’s iPhone 4S. DARPA’s 2011 BOLT program aims to take the next step, from a silicon intermediary between man and machine to an intermediary between people. Even as it also provides a powerful back-end translation system for traditional intelligence tasks. It’s one of a family of ongoing translation research efforts, all aiming to solve a persistent and expensive problem for the US military.

Up to $150M to Help DARPA’s Tactical Tech Programs

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Tactical Technology Office has 3 major focus areas. Advanced Platforms does a lot of work in robotics, from load carriers that walk like a dog (LS3) to UAVs designed to stay up for months (Vulture). They also do work in areas like hypersonic vehicles, however, and helicopter rotors that work better by changing their shape. Advanced Space Systems deals with programs like MOIRE flat-lens surveillance, and F6 fractional/clustered satellites. Advanced Weapons Systems covers projects like the naval LRASM missile, the Triple Target Terminator missile for fighters, or guided small-caliber sniper rounds (EXACTO).

In October 2011, US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) Atlantic in Charleston, SC issued a multiple-award contract for FY 2012, whose options could drive it to $150 million, and extend work through FY 2014.

It’s Better to Share: Breaking Down UAV GCS Barriers

US “Chair” Force?

UAVs have played a crucial role in gathering intelligence in the US military’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are thousands of UAVs gathering and distributing valuable data on the enemy, but each system uses its own proprietary subsystem to control the air vehicle as well as receive and process the data. Yet commanders need access to information gathered by all types of UAVs that are flying missions in their area of operation.

Recognizing this shortcoming, the Pentagon began an effort in 2008 to break down the proprietary barriers between UAV systems and create a single GCS that will fly all types of drones.

This free-to-view DID Spotlight article examines the problem of proprietary UAV systems and efforts to break down barriers to sharing vital UAV-generated information.

Up to $60M for US, International Packbot Orders

iRobot’s Packbot

In September 2011, iRobot Corp., Bedford, MA, was awarded a 5-year, $60 million firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for up to 300 PackBot Robot Systems, plus sustainment parts, repair, maintenance, and training. This contract can be used to deliver Foreign Military Sale channel orders, and iRobot says that has delivered government and industrial robots to customers in approximately 30 countries so far. In response to requests, Rrobot told DID that this new contract will allow the government to procure commercial Packbot systems, and does not fall within military MTRS or SUGV contracts.

Work will be performed in Bedford, MA, and the contract runs until July 27/16. One bid was solicited by the RSJPO (Robotic Systems Joint Program Office), with 1 bid received by U.S. Army Contracting Command in Warren, MI, who manages the contract (W56HZV-11-D-0093). See also iRobot release.

Afghanistan Orders EOD Robots

MMP-15/30
(click to view larger)

In September 2011, small business qualifier The Machine Lab in Wellington, CO receives an $11.9 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for MMP-30 robots and spare parts repair kits, which combines purchases for the US Navy (24%), and the government of Afghanistan (76%) via the official Foreign Military Sales process.

The purchase arose out of a Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technical Division requirement for a tracked mobile robot system with wireless control, multiple audio/video capability, and replacement parts. The USA already fields MTRS robots for EOD roles, which fit these criteria: the QinetiQ TALON is heavier, but iRobot’s Packbot is in the same 50 pound class as the MMP-30.

BCTM/E-IBCT: FCS Spinout Ramps up, Then Breaks Up

BCTM B-Kit in Hummer

Concerns about cost overruns, vehicle design, and contract structure prompted the Pentagon to cancel the US Army’s Future Combat System (FCS) program in June 2009.

Instead of a single FCS contract, the Pentagon directed the Army to set up a number of separate programs to undertake parts of the FCS program. One of those programs is the Brigade Combat Team Modernization (BCTM) Increment 1. The BCTM Increment 1 capabilities – which include ground robots, UAVs, ground sensors, and vehicle (B-Kit) network integration kits – were planned to be fielded to up to 9 Infantry Brigade Combat Teams beginning in 2011. Now it’s more like 2015 for the 1st brigade, and it will happen without most of the original components.

• BCTM/ E-IBCT Increment 1
  
• Contracts and Key Events, FY 2007-2011 [updated]
  
• Additional Readings