Adaptable/ Reusable Hardware/Software Architectures and Components for Future Combat System Automated Resupply

The US Army has a mandate to advance the material handling, re-supply and logistics automation technology to support Future Combat System (FCS) applications. There is an immediate need to reduce the workload and manpower requirements, and expedite the distribution of ammunition shipments through the in-theater storage areas to the combat end users. To support this initiative, this program will develop and implement the enabling component technologies required for highly autonomous, configured load building. By extending the autonomy of robotic field material handling equipment through the integration of sensor driven, intelligent controls, the efficiency and expedition of forward supply operations will be significantly increased. RRC established that through the application of sensor technologies and advanced robotic control, an existing manual material handling system could be modified to perform many tasks autonomously. RRC incorporated new hardware and software controls to the Smart Crane Ammunition Transfer System to demonstrate this capability. The Smart Crane employs an integrated set of core component technologies, which are reusable and adaptable for deployment throughout the military's material handling domain. The Smart Crane uses a shared control approach, whereby an operator can perform material handling tasks via manual teleoperation or by executing several autonomous strategies for crane control operation. The greatest impact to increasing operational efficiency and throughput in material handling operations will be achieved by advancing the autonomy of the system, thereby promoting the operator to a supervisory role. This program will develop the hardware and software components that advance the automation of three requisite material handling activities that are the most time consuming and require the highest level of operator involvement; munitions payload acquisition, payload placement, and payload release. With these enabling component technologies in hand, the program will develop and implement the infrastructure to coordinate these capabilities to demonstrate highly autonomous, configured load building. This program builds on technology previously developed for the Army by RRC and others and will provide the Army with a suite of reusable and adaptable hardware and software components that can be applied to a broad range of existing field material handling systems.