Autonomy, Unmanned Ground Vehicles, and the U.S. Army: Preparing for the Future by Examining the Past

Abstract

As a result of technological maturation, Congressional mandate, and battlefield use, the U.S. Army is currently involved in a tremendous amount of activity surrounding the development of unmanned systems (UMS). While current systems require near-constant supervision, the research and development community is developing capabilities that will greatly increase the autonomy of future UMS. The payoff of employing autonomous unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) in the Army is potentially high in a number of areas. However, the second or third order effects could have negative consequences. This monograph analyzes current U.S. Army efforts surrounding the development of autonomous UGVs. Though the Army's investment of time, money, and manpower in autonomous UGVs has been enormous, the potential benefits of these systems to our Soldiers are too great to refuse to make the investment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA506181

Entities

People

  • Gregory J. Nardi

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Autonomous Navigation
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Control Systems
  • Ground Vehicles
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Recreation
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Unmanned Ground Systems
  • Unmanned Ground Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Unmanned Vehicles
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerial Unmanned Vehicle Swarm Micro Periodontal Dentistry.
  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs