You are invited to see AMREL at the located at Hyattsville, MD. We are excited to attend this conference, which is a gathering of government decision makers and science/engineering professionals. Some our biggest experts will be bringing our most advance products. See you there!
“I think that if we tried harder, we couldn’t have made this budget more complicated….Abbott and Costello couldn’t have done it better.” Christine Fox, Acting Deputy Defense Secretary (Defense News)
Even judging by the Department of Defense’s (DoD) long legacy of confusing budgets, the most recent version is setting new standards for head scratching.
AMREL revealed major upgrades for its most popular laptop, the 15” ROCKY RK10. Adding performance to a proven platform, AMREL has added a powerful i7 processor, improved storage, expanded memory, and enhanced connectivity.
“It’s really a rugged laptop for the 21st century,” explains Kalvin Chen, Vice-President of Operations for AMREL. “Modern applications, such as video streaming, are very data heavy. The new upgrades improve the RK10’s capability for processing large amounts of information.” Read more
Recently, the above question was asked in Quora, a social media website. Below is my answer. As you will read, my primary motivation was in preventing people from forming onions based on superficial analysis and insufficient information.
Recently, there has been a bit of press about a Capabilities Advancement Demonstration of autonomous vehicles at TARDEC (Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center). My favorite headline about the demo so far is Is the U.S. developing a ROBOTIC army? (Daily Mail UK). Notice the attention-grabbing, alarm-generating capital letters for “ROBOTIC.” Read more
AMREL will be demonstrating its amazingly compact, fully rugged Slimline at ASNE Day.
See the:
Thin has never been so tough!
Ancient Romans looked at the remains of birds to decipher the future. Modern people –specifically those in the unmanned industry – look at government roadmaps. What does the latest Department of Defense (DoD) offering tell us about our upcoming prospects?
Surprise
When AMREL did its annual review, we were surprised by one finding: there was a marked uptick in the number of people buying rugged computers for personal use. While there has always a few folks who bought rugged platforms for themselves, our traditional customer base has been overwhelmingly enterprise oriented.
Why this sudden interest in rugged computers by consumers? Should you be considering a rugged computer for yourself or your organization?
Biggest problems facing robot developers
Recently, I interviewed Rob Culver, Director of AMREL’s Business Development and Sales of Unmanned/Manned Vehicle Systems. Rob has done stints as a procurement officer, and in Special Projects Management Office at USASOC. After serving 23 years in the Army, Rob joined iRobot in 2005. He traces his lifelong interest in robotics to reading Robert A. Heinlein’s “Starship Trooper” and Douglas Adams “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.”
My sense is that unmanned systems, especially ground vehicles, are at some kind of crossroads. The technology is advancing rapidly, but the land wars are winding down. The domestic market hasn’t increased to the point to make up for the slacking demand by the Department of Defense (DOD). What do you see as the biggest challenge to the industry?
As I write, 3000 air safety inspectors have had their positions deemed “non-essential.” The Center for Disease Control’s staff for tracking food borne illnesses has been cut by more than half. Bars in Washington, D.C. are expanding hours for idle workers. From these random government-shutdown events, we can conclude that that furloughed workers are being advised: don’t fly, don’t eat strange food, stay in town, and get drunk.
What about the rest of us?
As attractive as this advice is, it is not the best strategy for people who do business with the Federal government. How should Defense vendors and other providers deal with these shutdowns?
Notice the plural “shutdowns.” There is a very good chance that by the time you read this, the Federal government shutdown will be over. However, given the logjam that characterizes modern politics, an unwelcomed repeat performance is more than possible.
American Reliance, Inc.
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Email: AskUs@amrel.com
