Mini-helicopters, flying saucers and robot buggies are all fighting it out for a new war games prize. 'It's a bit like Wacky Races,' says one challenger as defence chiefs seek to bring hi-tech science to the frontline.
"We call it boys' toys for warfare," bellows Chris Burgess
Burgess belongs to one of 11 teams unveiled as finalists in the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) most ambitious - and unusual - attempt to bring hi-tech science to the frontline. Called the Grand Challenge, the GBP4m project calls on engineers to design a robot that can scour an urban area for enemy combatants and explosives and report back, preferably without human intervention.
Among the finalists are a swarm of tiny helicopters that can peer into windows, a flying saucer, and what looks like a scaled-down version of a mechanical diggger. By August this year the teams, a hotch-potch of defence companies, universities and sixth form colleges, will go head-to-head over three weeks to decide on a winner. The battle will be played out on the streets of Copehill Down, a mock-up of an East German village built in the English countryside during the cold war.
The competition will test each robot's ability to go into the village and spot different threats, including snipers, groups of gunmen, armed vehicles and improvised explosive devices or IEDs. Teams will be docked points for missing threats, being slow and targeting harmless civilians lurking among the buildings.
"It's a very tough challenge," said Andy Wallace at the MoD. "They have to deploy, move around by themselves and avoid obstacles, while locating and identifying things that pose a threat before reporting back." The challenge is a tacit admission that the large defence companies which provide the British military's frontline technology rarely come up with the most imaginative ideas.
By throwing open the challenge to all comers the British government aims to tap the brainpower of smaller companies and individual researchers. The idea was pioneered by the Pentagon, whose own Grand Challenge was set up to encourage new technology for driverless vehicles.
The winner will receive the RJ Mitchell trophy.
Tags: RJ Mitchell, IED, Robot
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