There is a growing requirement to remove the soldier from the hazardous battlefield environment and replace him with unmanned ground vehicles. Pure teleoperation requires constant operator attention during menial tasks such as driving, which eliminates any of the potential force multiplication available with single operator/ multi-vehicle control. Currently DARPA is actively developing the key technologies to provide autonomous navigation functions for unmanned ground vehicles and will demonstrate this technology under a program called Demo III,. Demo II will use pour Surrogate Semi-Autonomous Vehicles (SSV) working autonomously in a cooperative mission. In order to insure the success of Demo II, each of the universities and key organizations developing pieces of the advanced software and electronic hardware required need a common laboratory testbed to prove out their software algorithms and hardware components before integration onto the fielded SSV systems. These common laboratory testbeds should be easy to work with and modify and be 100% electronically and software compatible with the fielded SSV systems to reduce technology transfer risk to the fielded systems. RST will provide an all-electric, small-scale, low cost Robotic Research Vehicle (RRV) which is highly suited for the laboratory environment and is functionally identical to the SSV. The robotic research vehicle will also be capable of being used for several additional applications such as interior physical security (government and commercial), nuclear waste cleanup, EOD, and as a testbed for future technology advances by the research community.
