Sarcos and BAE team up to explore advanced perception and sensing capabilities

16th August 2021 - 15:50 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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Sarcos Defense robotic exoskeleton. (Photo: Sarcos)

New platform to address the issues around coordinating individual and multiple heterogeneous autonomous platforms like UASs and UGVs.

Sarcos Defense announced on 16 August that it is working with BAE Systems FAST Labs on a contract from the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop advanced perception and sensing capabilities for autonomous platforms.

Work on the $1.7 million contract is expected to culminate in 2023 by demonstrating a new collaborative sensing platform.

This platform will address the issues involving coordinating individual and multiple heterogeneous autonomous platforms like UASs and UGVs equipped with multimodal sensors such as cameras, radars, and lidars.

‘The expected result will coalesce multiple environmental inputs and combine with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies to enable unmanned systems to work together in greater harmony, both alone and coordinating with each other in “swarm” scenarios,’ Sarcos stated.

The company expects to apply its research in its commercial robotics products, particularly in its future Cybernetic Training for Autonomous Robots AI platform developed in partnership with the AFRL.

Dr Peter Zulch of the AFRL said: ‘Better perception and improving sensing lags are critical challenges, particularly as autonomous systems become more widely used.’