CMU, Sikorsky Demo Unmanned Black Hawk Carrying UGV
Carnegie Mellon University has teamed with Sikorsky to show how autonomous unmanned air vehicles can work with ground vehicles to perform complex operations, CMU announced Jan. 20.
In a demonstration held for the U.S. Army last fall, an optionally manned Black Hawk helicopter delivered CMU’s Land Tamer autonomous ground vehicle from the university’s National Robotics Engineering Center to a remote site, where the Land Tamer searched for potential contamination of the area.
Such a mission could help keep soldiers from being exposed to hazardous conditions, CMU said.
"We were able to demonstrate a new technological capability that combines the strengths of air and ground vehicles," Jeremy Searock, technical project manager for the CMU center, said in a press release. "The helicopter provides long-range capability and access to remote areas, while the ground vehicle has long endurance and high-precision sensing."
The demonstration was held in late October for the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center and took place at Sikorsky’s Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. The 19-month effort was named Extending the Reach of the Warfighter Through Robotics.
