DARPA autonomous vehicles deliver command-controlled robotic lethality at Fort Knox event

FORT KNOX, Ky. — Two dozen distinguished visitors from key military and government organizations gathered at Fort Knox’s St. Vith Range Oct. 15 to witne… FORT KNOX, Ky. — Two dozen distinguished visitors from key military and government organizations gathered at Fort Knox’s St. Vith Range Oct. 15 to witness a technological capability that is set to reshape the future of ground combat. Developed under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency RACER program, four autonomous unmanned ground vehicles idled as technicians made final tweaks to cables and software. Once given the green light, they worked as a team, negotiating and surveilling the rolling landscape in search of enemy forces – independently operating together.

“We can drop a ten-digit grid on a traversable mobility corridor that the ground vehicles use with their onboard sensors to understand the terrain and then drive to it comparable to a human,” said Dr. Jason Gregory, technical advisor at DARPA. “Out here at Fort Knox, we’re looking at how autonomous mobility technology can be paired with payloads to enable new warfighter capabilities.” DARPA describes itself as “an independent research and development agency within the U.S. Department of War,” which was created to ensure the United States would never be surprised by technological advancements anywhere in the world. Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency, or RACER,