Robotic Combat Vehicles: 'Are We There Yet?

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: EDITOR'S NOTES

A panel discussion on the status on robotic ground combat vehicles provided a sobering assessment of the technology's readiness to perform on battlefields.

"We're not there yet," was the oft-repeated sentence at the recent DARPA Forward conference.

In fact, the assessment was repeated so often one would have thought there were a pair of toddlers in the backseat of a minivan on a cross country trip to Disneyland chirping, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Just how close are autonomous or partially autonomous combat vehicles to fighting alongside crewed platforms?

It's an important question as the Army has two major programs in the works: the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle to replace the Bradley and the Robotic Combat Vehicle.

As for the latter, it is No. 6 on Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville's list of 24 key technologies he has vowed "to put in soldier's hands by 2023"--a deadline that is just 14 months away if taken to mean calendar year 2023.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger called for more robotic systems to fight alongside Marines.

Stuart Young, a program manager in DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, said, "Currently, robots are too slow to be operationally relevant on the modern battlefield, and they're too brittle."

By "brittle," he didn't mean they fall apart easily, he meant that they cease moving entirely because they are not autonomous enough to move on their own, he said at the conference, which was held at Colorado State University in Fort Collins

"Autonomous maneuver is not mature enough for the services to consider [robotic combat vehicles] as part of their operational concept," he said.

They don't adapt well to scenarios outside of highly controlled experiments, he added.

Obstacle avoidance is a major problem in the off-road conditions where the military needs to operate. Commercial car and truck manufacturers are making great strides and offer vehicles that can drive on streets and highways, but taking a fighting vehicle off a paved road and into "the bush" is a different kind of challenge, panelists noted.

Aside from the rugged terrain, "We operate in a tactical environment against an adversary as well. We like to say that the adversary gets a vote. So, we have to be able to not only go from point A to point B, but we have to do it mindful of what the adversary might not want us to do," Young said.

Lt. Col. Chris Orlowski, Robotic Combat Vehicle product manager at Program...