RTS Advanced Robotics part of concept mine detection team

Citation

(2001), "RTS Advanced Robotics part of concept mine detection team", Industrial Robot, Vol. 28 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2001.04928dab.003

RTS Advanced Robotics part of concept mine detection team

RTS Advanced Robotics part of concept mine detection teamKeywords: Robots, Hazards

THE MOD has just begun the three-phase, mine detection, marking and neutralisation programme (MINDER). It has awarded competitive assessment phase (CAP) contracts, each worth several million pounds, to two consortia.

Manchester-based, RTS Advanced Robotics is a partner in the consortium which is headed by Hunting Defence. Prior to its incorporation within The RTS Group late last year, RTS Advanced Robotics Limited was known as UK Robotics Limited.

Other team members include Thomson Missile Electronics (TME), DERA, Systems Engineering & Assessment (SEA) and Redifon MEL.

As the British Army takes on an increasingly diverse number of roles around the world, the need for a reliable mine detection and neutralisation programme that will keep its personnel safe has grown. Recent conflicts in Kosovo and Bosnia have demonstrated the importance of being able to clear and prove a route for military purposes. This is the raison d'être behind the MINDER programme.

RTS Advanced Robotics, as one of the UK's foremost advanced robotics companies, will provide the input for the robotic element of the concept vehicle or vehicles, including remote driving of vehicles and provision of manipulator systems. Although the Hunting Consortium will consider many permutations over the next few months, the specialist team at RTS Advanced Robotics currently believe that the eventual MINDER concept will involve deployment of a robot arm teleoperated by a variant of the company's advanced teleoperated controller (ATC) (see Plate 1). The tried and tested technology of the ATC offers a wide range of functions from camera-centred, resolved motion control, through to full integration with on-line virtual reality systems. The ability to view real-time 3D models of the manipulator can even be incorporated within the ATC display.

Plate 1 RTS Advanced Robotics believe that the MINDER concept will involve deployment of a robot arm

During this first 21-month phase, the consortium members will develop and evaluate possible solutions, each bringing their own area of expertise to the project. Currently, several different vehicle types are being considered, and these may be deployed singly or together, working as a team, each with its own function or functions. Hunting Engineering is responsible for the installation design of the sensor suite within the vehicles. TME will provide the mine detection sensor suite and data fusion, and will also carry out the human factors and training studies. DERA will bring neutralisation and armouring knowledge to the team.

Once the concept phase is complete, the second phase of the MINDER programme will invite the two CAP winners to bid to develop and build the MINDER vehicles in a series of contracts worth approximately £100 million. "A third phase, worth approximately £100 million, is not due to enter service until around 2010".

Geoff Pegman, managing director of RTS Advanced Robotics, explained: "Remote operation, as a protection mechanism where people are in potential danger, is finally a reality and one which the defence sector is rightly exploring more and more. As a company, our reputation for developing robotic systems specially adapted for hazardous environments is second to none".

For more information visit: www.rts-group.com and www.robotics.co.uk