A new series: Armada International is now introducing a new regular series of articles on ground robots to cater to this emerging discipline. Three reports will be devoted to this technology for 2006. Interestingly enough, Armada International started to look into robots as early as 1989, issue 6 of that year to be precise.

The word robot first appeared in the printed English language in a 1921 translation of the play called R.U.R. by Karel Capek. Robot derives from robota, which means labour, or work, in Czech. And indeed, the idea behind the robot as we define it today is to create an autonomous mechanical tool able to do the dirty work that we humans deem improper with our superior status.

Since the 1920s, though, the true nature of the word has been distorted and used to qualify any machinery that was created to carry out repetitive manoeuvres--as those seen on assembly or production lines. In Capek's play, the robot was a much smarter piece of hardware, one that had a certain degree of autonomy (or intelligence). In the context that concerns us here, what has been an age-long dream is materialising in the form of vehicles that can truly find their way on their own (as opposed to being remotely controlled), navigate around obstacles, go through their assigned chores and hopefully return home.

It is ironic to see that in the manned vehicle world it is the aeroplane that came second, way after Cugnot's first steam-powered automobile (called Fardier), but that the opposite scenario has taken place in the unmanned vehicle scene. While the unmanned air vehicle indeed has to cope with the added difficulty of one more dimension than its ground-operating counterpart, it virtually has no obstacles ahead of it, except our good old planet, which it eventually needs to smoothly negotiate with on its way back. Our natural human habitat, on the other hand, is full of traps in the form of large stones, trees, tall grass and ditches that all must be 'interpreted' as obstacles by the vehicle.

The robot is in its infancy, but the current demonstrators now emerging are proof that the required technology is not only becoming mature, but also--and perhaps above all--affordable. Apart from the platform per se, the basic ingredients required are 'eyes' (optical and electromagnetic sensors), 'balance and orientation' (GPS and accelerometers) and a 'brain' (computer) to manage the sensors' inputs and produce the required outputs to the power and steering units.

Robots as they are now being developed are destined to accomplish reconnaissance, spying and scout missions and, up to a certain degree, be more or less expendable. The idea is to save human time and lives, and very much like cruise missiles, some versions could be required to carry out no-return missions in extreme circumstances.

The surveillance of security areas like borders, airports, fuel depots or military camps or bases are obvious tasks, but one that is becoming clearer by the day is patrolling roads or trails that are used by convoys to detect the emplacement of what are now known as <<improvised explosive devices>>. Urban warfare is yet another terrain on which the robot is bound to excel when its airborne counterpart reaches its limits.

Although some traditional European and American defence companies have been investigating this field for a number of years (see Armada International 4/2005), the Israelis are likely to be the first to put practical examples of a surveillance vehicle into operational service. Indeed the Israel Defence Force has voiced a requirement for such patrol vehicles with a few examples to be used as early as this year (2006) for training purposes.

One such example could be the IAI Lahav A3 M-Guard, which was displayed at Eurosatory (and photographed there by the author in 2004). The vehicle, now known as the Guardium, has been honed and is currently being tested by the Israeli defence forces and, to use the manufacturer's own words "is based on a unique algorithmic expert system that functions as a 'brain' to allow decisionmaking capabilities". The vehicle, like many others as we shall see, was primarily developed to patrol security areas. It is armed, can recognise critical situations and, when the operator cuts in, keep suspects under respect until a patrol can reach the area of contention. Obviously, IAI drew heavily on the know-how garnered through the development of drone systems and particularly of the Twister network-centric command it unveiled at the last Paris Air Show (see issue 5/2005, page 27).

Chronologically the Guardium was followed by the Elbit AvantGuard, which was unveiled at the 2005 Ausa exhibition in Washington. Based on the Tomcat scout TM27GL chassis, it is able to virtually think, avoid obstacles, and communicate, according to Elbit. It uses an inertial navigation system backed by a differential GPS receiver. In addition to its roof-mounted and stabilised 7.62 mm remote-controlled weapon station, it is also equipped with front and rear cameras, a bi-directional intercom and an emergency braking device which is activated if the communication link with its base is broken. Elbit initially worked on another vehicle known as the Avidor using in-house research and development funding. It is only after the 2004 Darpa Challenge and successful demonstration of the vehicle that Elbit was awarded additional funding to develop the AvantGuard, which will lead to the delivery of a few vehicles to the Israeli Defence Force in 2006.

On 7 December 2005, Tadiran Electronic Systems (Elisra Group) announced that yet another robotic vehicle, the Spotter, had been closely examined by the Israeli military. The Spotter's brains were developed with the assistance of Autonomous Solutions in the United States.

Quite clearly, there will be as many types of autonomous robots as there will be specific applications. The prime requirement is of course their ability to remain autonomous, and this largely depends on the level of their intelligence. The rest (all-terrain capability, range, payload, armouring) really boils down to the chassis that is selected, and there is a plethora of types readily available on the market. Incidentally, Rafael with the Protector and Aeronautics with the SeaStar have already demonstrated that it could also be done with small hard-hull inflatable motorboats.

Still too Big?

Even if a robot like the Elisra Spotter is still too big to investigate certain confined urban environments such as building entrances or garages, one can easily imagine that it could deliver smaller, but remotely controlled devices and thereby act as a relay to the control station. Those midgets already exist--as exemplified the Macroswiss Spybot Mk II and seen below--and during a mission several could be delivered by a home robot. The little Swiss 'bug' can crawl for four hours, overcome small obstacles and above all self-rights any time it turtles over. It can even climb down stairs to investigate the dubious depths of a cellar.