机器人车辆协助士兵执行任务

The U.S. Army’s Autonomous Platform Demonstrator (APD) will assist soldiers in payload missions and keep them safe in the process. Developed by the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, (TARDEC), the APD is a 9.6-ton, six-wheeled, hybrid-electric robotic vehicle used by the Robotic Vehicle Control Architecture, or RVCA Army Technology Objective, also out of TARDEC. Working with the Army’s Program Executive Office Integration, RVCA has integrated a suite of system control, display, and sensing hardware and software onto the robotic vehicle to enable a soldier to control it in real-time, or operate it in an autonomous mode.

Tardec机器人技术高级研究科学家Jim Overholt博士说：“它使用各种传感器和LADAR（激光/雷达扫描雷达）在距离内检测移动物体。”此外，RVCA提供侦察监视和目标获取功能。

Tardec的车辆电子和建筑副总监Chris Ostrowski说：“它有一个四米桅杆，上面有一个传感器球，因此可以看到很高的方法。”

“当您将RVCA提供的自主权和控制功能与APD的移动性特征相结合时，它允许士兵操作员快速在他想要的地方迅速部署任务有效负载，并在一些非常艰难的地形上。”经理Tardec。

机器人车辆目前正在马里兰州阿伯丁宣告地面进行移动性测试，其先进的混合动力驱动火车，这辆15英尺长的车辆可以达到超过50 mph的速度。高速机动性测试包括车道更改。“这是一个具有挑战性的控制型转向车辆的具有挑战性的控制问题。我们希望机器人在这样的操作时保持稳定，但我们也希望它保留其在较低速度下拥有的其他移动性特征。” Ostrowski说。这些特征包括能够爬上一米步骤，导航60％的斜率以及枢轴旋转到位的能力。

当配备其自主导航系统（配备了GPS Waypoint技术，惯性测量单元和计算机算法）时，它会避免其路径中的障碍。移动性测试旨在提高和发展机器人以更高速度操纵的能力，同时以较低的速度保持极端的地形能力。

As a series hybrid-electric vehicle, the APD is propelled by six in-hub electric motors and has a diesel generator that charges its lithium ion batteries.

Kerbrat说：“最先进的混合动力驱动列车只是我们在这个平台上展示的移动性技术之一。”被证明的其他技术包括高级悬架系统，热力管理系统，机器人安全系统和轻型船体技术。
“We’ve made a lot of progress with this platform in a short time period. From concept to wheels on the ground was just a shade over two years, and in the eight months since then, we’ve driven almost 3,000 kilometers and have demonstrated 95 percent of the metrics that we were trying to show with this platform,” said Kerbrat.

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