Soldiers teaching robots battlefield duties.

• Author: Pappalardo, Joe

Sgt. 1st Class Ralph Brewer has an odd job that is at the intersection of past and future warfare--teaching a robot to be a combat reconnaissance scout.

"An Army field manual can tell you how you should do it," he says. "When you get out there and do any type of mission, it's not ever the same ... There are ways of doing things the book doesn't show you."

Brewer's work is part of an Army Research Lab's effort to instill robots with complex behaviors, thus, making them suitable for the battlefield. At the lab, a dedicated effort is under way to create the perfect unmanned reconnaissance scout.

To perform the mission the robots need two things: sensors and good programming. They must be able to read a situation quickly and safely, whether it be moving over obstacles or navigating a course through coming vehicle or pedestrian traffic.

"Those in the military know there is a lot more to being on a road recon mission than moving from A to B," says Charles Shoemaker, head of the lab's robotics program office. "There is the traffic on the road. They're looking for ambush points and bridges that need to be intact."

ARL develops robotic platforms, hardware and software, that can transition into other government research programs, such as the Army's Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center. The research lab's imaging technology, which uses laser radar to capture local environments, is being used on various robotic programs at TARDEC. Each of those vehicles is part of Future Combat Systems.

The laser radar sensors themselves have been honed to increase their range, accuracy and security. "Earlier generations could be detected by night vision equipment. We have lowered the emission frequency so that it can't be seen," Shoemaker tells the audience at a recent industry conference.

Sensors are vital to creating flexible robotic behavior. But the Army Research Lab is teaching the behaviors. It is starting with using them to pave the way for convoys and infantry patrols. "There are many specific tactical behaviors the military wants to integrate," Shoemaker says. "We're focused on one--route reconnaissance."

The construction of a behavior begins with the textbooks. Instructional materials are condensed to simple instructions, a series of decisions a robot can process. Or, as Shoemaker puts it, "that information can be knowledge-engineered."

Say a robot is approaching an intersection on a recon mission. In a structured, methodical way, the...