You may not have had a chance to see AMREL’s new interoperability capability at AUVSI, but you can read about it on your free download. Just as our Flexpedient® technology revolutionized OCUs for UGVs, we think interoperable Small Lightweight Expansion Devices (SLED) will become standard for handheld applications. Click here.
Wintergreen Research is publicizing a finding that the “…first responder and military ground robot marketplace will expand at close to 20% annually for the rest of the decade.” Furthermore, “Markets at $4.5 billion in 2013 reach $12.0 billion by 2019.”
This is welcome news for the developers of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV). Robohub points out that this projection is consistent with a Markets and Markets report that predicts a 17.4% CAGR for the same time period. Of course, any headline in the media must be greeted with a certain degree of skepticism. Do these projections make sense?
Originally, only the IT guy was supposed to attend the trade show. He had a tech background and frequently doubled as a purchasing agent. However, the police sergeant had performed Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) missions in the military. The chief thought the experienced, older man could bring insight to the department’s process for acquiring an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV)…
Read the rest of the article about handheld controllers here.
The war may be over for our veterans, but for many, healing the wounds can be a life-long struggle.
The Wounded Warrior Project works to
On this Memorial Day, as we honor the fallen, let us remember the living.
AEODRS in the spotlight
All eyes in the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) community are on the Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robot System (AEODRS) program. An important RFP for the increment-1(small robot for dismounted operations) is expected soon, and everyone wants a piece of the action if not the whole shebang itself.
Several things make AEODRS especially attractive to Defense vendors. For one thing, in a time of sequestration and other budget pressures, it is one of the few fully funded Department of Defense (DoD) UGV development programs around. Secondly, it is arguably the most important.
Read the rest of the article here.
Recently, the 2013 Robotics Roadmap was presented to the Congressional Robotics Caucus. This is an updated version of the 2009 report, which helped established the National Robotics Initiative (NRI), a federal multi- agency joint effort.
Members of the unmanned system community are barraged with roadmaps all the time, so it would be tempting to ignore this one. However, key influencers are involved in this roadmap, so it should be considered seriously. You can slog through all 129 pages of the report or examine the highlights described here.
Army Maj. Gen. Lynn A. Collyar, former director of Defense Logistics Agency’s logistics operations, is not scared of sequestration and he doesn’t want you to be either.
“Our budget still has almost $500 billion,” he recently told an audience of anxious Defense vendors. “We can’t afford to just throw money around…,” but “there is still a lot of money out there.”
One person who doesn’t need convincing is Rob Culver, Director of Program Management for AMREL. After serving in 23 years in the Army with half his career spent in Special Operations (18A), Rob also spent 8 years managing Defense acquisition programs, covering the complete product life-cycle. Having experienced procurement as an acquisition officer, a Defense vendor, and as a grunt in the field, he has a uniquely well-informed point-of-view about the Defense budget.
“General Collyar is absolutely right,” he said. “Vendors are scared, because they don’t understand the acquisition process. The ones who learn how to work the system will be the ones who survive and prosper.”
Read the rest of this here
Yikes! The NDIA just announced that it canceled the Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference (GRCC) 2013.
In an email dated March 5, NDIA stated:
As noted in Wired, the Defense Department has taken a major step toward its goal of “a smartphone for every soldier.” They recently released their Commercial Mobile Device (CMD) Implementation Plan, which details dates, stages, and buys over the next several years. The DoD may be purchasing as many as 600,000 smartphone devices. As expected, the Pentagon is deliberately being “device agnostic.” They are looking at Apple and Google –based communication devices, and they have promised to support Blackberry smartphones as well. See below for links to the CMD Implementation plan as well as their overall strategy, which was released last June.
Exerpt from; DoD Commercial Mobile Device Implementation Plan
“As a result of a JROC Capability Gap Assessment, OSD guidance, and strong end user demand for secure classified and unclassified mobile solutions, DoD is orchestrating an effort to provide wireless network services infrastructure, approved devices, applications management, and policies to protect and secure the mobile DoD information ecosystem. The Implementation Plan updates the DoD Mobile Device Strategy, Reference (a), to establish wireless voice, video, and data capabilities in accordance with DoD Instruction 8100.04, Reference (c), by October 2013. The CMD Implementation Plan establishes the framework to equip users and managers with mobile solutions that leverage commercial off-the-shelf products, improve functionality, decrease cost, and enable increased personal productivity….”
AMREL now offers a turn-key fully rugged avionics tablet complete with an integrated MIL-STD-1553 card supplied by Data Device Corporation (DDC). DDC is the world’s leading MIL-STD-1553 hardware and software provider. DDC has supplied integration support along with their 1553 Mini-PCIe card to help design this turn-key solution. Read more
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