Роботизиран миночистач

[Joro-01]

Ошкош дифенс е контракторът на отбраната на САЩ, разработил машината

http://www.wired.com/2014/06/oshkosh-autonomous-minesweeping/?mbid=social_fb

Improvised explosive devices, mines, and other kinds of roadside bombs are a major threat to U.S. troops serving overseas. That may be about to change, and not just because we’re pulling out of Afghanistan.

U.S. defense contractor Oshkosh Defense already keeps soldiers away from harm with the M-ATV, an armored vehicle specially designed to resist blasts from IEDs and mines. Even better, it detects explosives using special ground penetrating radar and a 12-wheeled mineroller which attaches to the front of the M-ATV.

But that’s not quite good enough: Oshkosh wants to move soldiers even further from the danger zone by putting them in another vehicle entirely and making the minesweeping truck drive itself. Minesweeping is a “very dangerous job where unmanned ground vehicle technology could have a big payoff in saving lives,” says John Beck, head engineer for Oshkosh’s Unmanned Systems group.

Self-Driving Warriors
The company has spent a decade developing an autonomous driving technology called TerraMax, which can be applied to vehicles already on the road. You may recognize it from Top Gear, where it was installed on Oshkosh’s six-wheeled cargo truck, the MTVR MK25A1. TerraMax came to life in 2004 as a competitor in the DARPA Grand Challenge, a 150-mile race across the California desert designed to spur development of autonomous vehicles. It did well in the great robot race and has since evolved into a more advanced and versatile platform.

It’s now equipped with radar and LIDAR, which uses lasers to detect nearby objects, along with a drive-by-wire system that electronically controls engine speed, transmission, braking, and steering. The system does more than steer and hit the throttle and brakes. It can intelligently control a central tire inflation system and driveline locks to navigate deep sand or mud, all without any input from the operator.