High Mobility Robotic Platform with Active Articulated Suspension

This proposal describes the development of highly versatile rough terrain robotic transport for use as a squad support vehicle. Extensive use of commercial components and assemblies will allow a vehicle with purpose designed capabilities to be rapidly created and tested for a modest cost. The design includes a central prime mover to provide power to all wheels for high bandwidth traction control. In addition, the active suspension allows the vehicle weight to be distributed where necessary to climb and traverse steep slopes and large obstacles, Payloads can be accommodated both internally and externally on the transport depending on its susceptibility to environmental extremes. A master computational resource distributes JAUS compatible state commands to individual wheel controllers. The resulting vehicle exceeds all program requirements and could be ready for field testing is a very short period of time.