Military robot challenge looking for best solution for autonomous indoor operations

• Author: ANNA AHRONHEIM
• Published date: 06 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"We need to develop a system that is fully able to operate by itself, and now there isn't one solution despite the money invested into it," said Ran Meged, project manager of the MoSAIC Challenge on behalf of the Merage Institute, told The Jerusalem Post. "This is one huge technological gap both in the US and in Israel."

The challenge, led by the Merage Institute, is divided into five distinct mini-challenges, with each one focusing on a specific capability to enable remote autonomous indoor maneuvering that can be integrated into one solution for both governments.

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The five mini-challenges are indoor navigation, room mapping,human/object tagging, tactical robotic systems, and human presence detection.

What is unique about the challenge, Neged said, is that it will not see large defense companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems participating, but, rather, other companies whose focus is other domains such as fintech, health tech and event tech.

Meged said that many technologies were developed over the past year during the coronavirus pandemic, especially in hospitals and other medical settings. Several companies that have worked on that technology will be participating in the challenge.

"The US Department of Defense realized many years ago that groundbreaking innovations are taking place outside government laboratories and traditional security contractors," said Adam Tracy, IWTSD international program director.

Tracy added that, using the challenge, the DoD hopes to "locate and identify all relevant technologies that can provide our military tactical operators and law enforcement agencies with every possible technological advantage when operating in challenging and high-risk internal environments."

While the majority of the applications for the challenge are Israeli (30%) or American (40%), projects have also come from Russia, the United Arab Emirates...