Carnegie Mellon University and Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, are working together on developing an autonomous Black Hawk helicopter.
Last week, the partnership announced that the the copter participated in an Oct. 27 demonstration exercise along with an Unmanned Ground Vehicle to showcase "the capability of new, ground-air cooperative missions."
"Using a UH-60MU BLACK HAWK helicopter enabled with Sikorsky's MATRIX Technology and CMU's Land Tamer autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV), recently participated in a joint autonomy demonstration," a Jan. 20
press release posted on Carnegie Mellon's official website reads.
"Such missions could prevent warfighters' exposure to hazardous conditions, such as chemically or radiologically contaminated areas," the release continues.
"The teaming of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles, as demonstrated here, has enormous potential to bring the future ground commander an adaptable, modular, responsive and smart capability that can evolve as quickly as needed to meet a constantly changing threat," Paul Rogers, director of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, is quoted as saying.
Video of the exercise was also released.
"During the demonstration mission, the unmanned BLACK HAWK helicopter picked up the UGV, flew a 12-mile route, delivered it to a ground location and released it," the statement says of the exercise.
"The drop-zone collaboration between the two autonomous systems demonstrated a uniquely differentiating capability.
"Over the course of more than six miles, the UGV autonomously navigated the environment, while using its onboard chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) sensors to detect simulated hazards and delivered this information back to a remote ground station.
"The UGV was optionally teleoperated to explore hazard sites in greater detail, when necessary."
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