[blog.wired.com] Over the past week, Copehill Down Village, the British Army’s urban combat training facility, saw its oddest contest ever — one that involved flying saucers, swarming robots, remote-control buggies, and inventors from all over the country. This was the Ministry of Defence’s Grand Challenge, to develop new technology for urban reconnaissance.
Yesterday, they announced the winners. Robot-makers from Southampton’s Stellar Research Services snagged the top prize. Stellar’s approach, called SATURN, involved three separate machines: a high-level flying robotic aircraft, a low-level drone, and a tracked vehicle (pictured) that looks like a relative of WALL-E.
The mechanical trio had to navigate a mock village, crawling with threats: hidden snipers, armed "militia" in the open, and roadside bombs. Of the eleven teams competing, Team Stellar scored the highest points in identifying and locating the targets, using cameras and radar and thermal sensors.
Stellar Team Leader Julia Richardson afterwards said: “I am extremely pleased, we are thrilled, we worked very hard and it is a fantastic result.”
Team Swarm was rated the “most innovative idea,” with an entry based on a swarm eight small "Owl" quadrotor helicopters, equipped with high-resolution video cameras. (Pedantry note: the collective term for owls is a "Parliament", or, perhaps more appropriately in this case, a "Stare.")
Stephen Crampton, CEO of Swarm Systems Ltd, told me he was very pleased with what the company has achieved in just twelve months:
"The UK now has the world’s most advanced quadrotor technology — it can fly in 18 knot gusty winds, which is unheard of for a quadrotor. We believe it is the best approach for taking to the front line – backpackable, quiet, light, fast, robust, and you can stack a hundred of them on a standard pallet."
As expected, the outcome of the Grand Challenge was seen as a chance to evaluate new unmanned technologies, according to the official press release:
The MoD is now carefully considering if technologies demonstrated in the final can be incorporated into future frontline kit for the Armed Forces. It is possible that the winning team will have invented a product that can be developed rapidly for the front line; it is also possible that no single system will offer the perfect solution to the problems faced in theatre today. Therefore, MoD may consider elements of a number of systems if it is believed they could offer rapid technical solutions for the front line.
Source: http://blog.wired.com
