DEVCOM ARL FY22 Industry Autonomy Technology Assessment (IATA)Final Report on Security and Mobility

Author(s):

Marshal Childers, John Millemaci, Anthony Barnett, Jacob Sepinuck, Christian Ellis, Craig Lennon, and Luis Hernandez

Abstract:

Forces that will conduct missions for extended periods in expeditionary situations require technologies that are mobile, robust, and have sufficient autonomy to increase team effectiveness. The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory solicited solutions from industry that demonstrate autonomous mobility and autonomous security in operationally relevant scenarios. During July 2022, three companies participated in an evaluation by DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory to assess off-the-shelf capabilities to increase situational awareness by detecting and responding to unknown actors in various scenarios near a named area of interest. This report describes the first Industry Autonomy Technology Assessment with details on the challenges, data and analysis of performance, feedback, and recommendations that can be used by developers and stakeholders to leverage the demonstrated strengths and invest in areas where more capability is required. The results show that current technologies can be used for limited surveillance and reconnaissance tasks, and the level of demonstrated performance warrants further development to increase capability across environments, situations, and mission sets.