After more than eight years of effort, Oshkosh Truck company, electronics manufacturer Rockwell Collins, and artificial intelligence experts from the University of Parma, Italy have produced a UGV (unmanned ground vehicle), called TerraMax, that works well enough for military use.
The current TerraMax vehicle is basically a six wheeled Oshkosh Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) and weighs over 14 tons. MTVR is a military cargo truck, and the U.S. Marine Corps has been testing the improved TerraMax for use as an unmanned truck. This would reduce the number of personnel needed in a combat zone and reduce the risk to troops operating on highly dangerous roads.
It would appear that, before the end of the decade, there will be robotic vehicles, probably operating in convoys led by a vehicle with a human in it, and perhaps another such vehicle at the rear. But the rest of the vehicles could be autonomous (operating using their own computers and sensors) UGVs. Some of these vehicles could have remotely controlled gun turrets, with the operators back at some base, ready to go into action. A few human gun turret operators could be on duty for several convoys. The U.S. has already developed predictive analysis systems that determine the probability of attacks on convoys and more gun turret operators could be on call, since anyone who has played video games can quickly learn how to operate one of these turrets.
| A reminder that our readers might want to check out Race Against the Machine for more on the rapid advances in robotics and intelligent software. |
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