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Robots & Puddles: Surprises from Army RCV Test

14/08/2020

Experimental Robotic Combat Vehicles are outperforming Army expectations. But soldiers are finding plenty of quirks to fix.

Adjusting the remote-controlled weapons station on an experimental Robotic Combat Vehicle

An example of some issues that came up was having the robot be able to tell apart a puddle from a much deeper area of water. This proves to be an issue as these are vehicles that are meant to maneuver cross-country. A few simple solutions were presented for other quirks that appeared while testing the RCV such as putting microphones onto the robot so that the operator can hear what was going on as well as attaching cameras to see the robots point of view.

For the next major experiment, scheduled for 2022 once new purpose-built RCV prototypes are on hand, “we’ll have a new radio to increase the range,” the general said, as well as a tethered drone to relay signals over obstacles.

Find out more here.

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