Official News - page 11

REAL LIFE NEWS: MINISTRY OF DEFENCE GRAND CHALLENGE

by Hazed

The Ministry of Defence in the UK has opened a competition for inventors designed "to create a system with a high degree of autonomy that can detect, identify, monitor and report a comprehensive range of military threats in an urban environment." The Grand Challenge wants the potential solutions to also do the following: "its use should not alert the enemy as to the proximity of friendly troops; it should have a low visual and acoustic signature and it should either exhibit good resistance to countermeasures or be an easily replaceable consumable item." So a stealth robot, then.

Entries to the challenge can put together their bots at their own expense or can apply for MoD development funding. The deadline for applications is 15 May and then both funded and unfunded entries will compete in a "grand finale" next summer.

What they want is a system that can sniff out roadside bombs, rocket-propelled-grenade ambushes, snipers and similar threats in an urban environment, and which can answer such questions as "What waits at the next intersection? What lies around the corner of the next building or concealed in houses or behind rooftop parapets?" That sounds like a lot of judgement will be required; whether it succeeds or not, at least it'll be fun to see the results of the robot wars next year.

For more details go to the MoD website.

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