When it comes to unmanned and autonomous surface ships, the U.S. Navy will have “a lot” of them “very soon,” says Craig Perciavalle, president of global ship builder and defense prime contractor Austal USA.
“As we talk about autonomy, one thing’s for sure: it’s certainly not a question now if the Navy will have unmanned or autonomous surface ships in the fleet,” Perciavalle says during a session titled “Designing & Constructing Autonomous Naval Ships.” “It’s more a question of when and how many.”
As the Secretary of Defense and the Navy have made it clear that unmanned and autonomous vessels are the future of the Navy, the efforts to bring that vision to reality sooner than later have become a priority.
Autonomy
Autonomy
Positioning and perception development kits from NovAtel and AutonomouStuff, both part of Hexagon, enable autonomous off-road programs or projects
Through their various positioning and perception development kits, NovAtel and AutonomouStuff accelerate autonomous applications in the field that are ready for development. These kits are displayed on their new autonomous research and development tractor, built to illustrate the viability of the kits to accelerate autonomous projects. While these kits have been designed with agriculture applications in mind, they can also be integrated into other off-road autonomy applications.
Weekend Roundup: October 2, 2020
This Week in the Unmanned Systems and Robotics World
Einride has raised an additional $10 million in venture capital funding. The company believes the funding will be enough to get it to next year, when it can hopefully seek out a bigger round. (VentureBeat)
Conversations with AUVSI: Pratt Miller Mobility
Pratt Miller Mobility is an engineering and product development company that serves the spectrum of the mobility industry, from the world’s largest automotive OEM’s to budding start-ups, commercial truck to powersports – to bring their vision into reality. With roots in motorsports, the company is properly equipped to deliver what it describes as “ingenious solutions” to its clients' most challenging problems and wildest ideas.
Alion to provide Autonomy and Navigation Technology for U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology
Alion Science and Technology has been awarded a $20 million task order from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, with a 60-month period of performance to provide Autonomy and Navigation Technology (ANT) Development.
“Alion has some of the greatest engineering and technology minds in industry partnering side-by-side with our customers to face challenging issues and create technologies, solutions and advancements in innovation to keep our nation ahead,” says Eric Wright, Alion’s vice president of the Integrated Solutions Operation within the Advanced Technology Group.
Self-driving forklift developer Fox Robotics to use new funding to increase production
Fox Robotics, a company that builds self-driving forklifts, has closed a $9 million Series A led by Menlo Ventures.
According to Fox Robotics, the company makes self-driving forklifts that are “more flexible, more capable and safer” than current automated guided vehicles (AGVs). The company says that its forklifts are capable of handling challenging tasks that no other automation can handle, such as unloading trailers without modifying the warehouse environment.
An added advantage of Fox's forklifts is that it takes less than a day to get Fox's forklifts installed and running in a new warehouse. Fox says that typical AGV's usually weeks or months to integrate into a new warehouse.
Near Earth Autonomy, Kaman Aerospace partner to develop autonomy system for K-MAX helicopter
Near Earth Autonomy and Kaman Aerospace, with support from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), have partnered to develop an intelligent autonomy system for a large-scale transport aircraft capable of lifting a payload of 6,000 pounds called the K-MAX helicopter.
According to the companies, the capability developed will be broadly applicable to large aircraft that can take off and land vertically with a large set of commercial and military applications.
“Our past efforts laid a strong foundation for solving complex autonomy challenges for small, medium, and large vehicles,” says Sanjiv Singh, CEO of Near Earth.
Reliable Robotics completes successful test flights of remote-piloted passenger airplanes in U.S. airspace
Reliable Robotics, a company that is equipping airplanes with an autonomous capability,
Brain Corp's manufacturing partners deploy autonomous delivery tugs across the U.S.
Artificial intelligence software technology company Brain Corp has announced that its manufacturing partners are involved in several pilots and initial deployments of autonomous delivery tugs powered by BrainOS, which is Brain Corp’s cloud-connected operating system for commercial autonomous robots.
According to Brain Corp, these commercial rollouts mark the industry debut of a “new robotic application that helps retailers bridge the automation gap in moving inventory from the stockroom out to store shelves.”
Parrot, Dronisos expand partnership to explore new applications for drone flight automation
Parrot has announced that it is expanding its ongoing partnership with Dronisos, a European company that creates and produces customized drone swarm light shows. Leveraging the Parrot ANAFI drone platform, the companies will explore new applications for drone flight automation.
A combination of “sophisticated technology and artistic expression,” Dronisos’ drone swarms are designed to entertain audiences around the world with dancing drones and lights for clients such as Lancôme, Peugeot, FIFA, and Oreo. To pull these shows off, sophisticated drone flight automation is needed to synchronize up to one thousand drones to perform choreographed movements, tricks and flight patterns.
