Robotic vehicle Primus does not require a driver
EADS presents experimental programme
Friedrichshafen, 21 January 2004
EADS, the European aerospace company does not only build unmanned aircraft but also vehicles not requiring a driver. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg), Dornier GmbH - a unit of EADS - is developing the experimental programme PRIMUS (Programme of Intelligent Mobile Unmanned Systems). The robotic vehicle is capable of autonomously moving off the road. As reported by the company on January 21, 2004, the developers have already demonstrated the current development status on the training area of the German armed forces in Pfullendorf in the presence of representatives of the public customer and experts of the Nato partners.
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The programme aims at developing and integrating advanced technologies for the operation of partially autonomous unmanned vehicles. A prerequisite for the use of such systems is the capability to independently identify and avoid obstacles or dangerous areas. For this purpose, a 3D laser scanner developed by Dornier is used for scanning the terrain in front of the vehicle. On the basis of these data, the vehicle computer generates an obstacle map in real time, calculates the most appropriate course to the target and guides the vehicle to that point.
Dr. Stefan Zoller, President and CEO of the EADS Business Unit Defence & Communications Systems said: "With this new technology EADS has set a trend in the field of autonomous unmanned all-terrain vehicles".
PRIMUS, currently using a "Wiesel" airdroppable tank as a platform, reaches a speed of 30 km/h on the terrain and 50 km/h on the road in autonomous operation. Similar to unmanned air vehicles, autonomous ground vehicles can be employed wherever the operation of manned vehicles is impossible or too dangerous. Furthermore, experts expect that the soldiers will be relieved from routine activities, for example by the use of autonomous transport vehicles.
The armed forces of numerous states are also preparing concepts for the use of future unmanned vehicles. Thus, the first vehicles are to be introduced in the USA within the scope of the Future Combat Systems Programme during the next ten years.
Dornier GmbH is a corporate unit of EADS. With revenues of € 29.9 billion in 2002 and more than 100,000 employees, EADS is the second largest aerospace and defence company in the world. As a systems integrator, EADS is one of the few companies world-wide capable of combining various products and technologies to form complete systems. It is one of the market leaders in civil aviation, defence and security technology, helicopters, launch vehicles, satellites, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as the associated services. The EADS Group includes the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world's largest helicopter supplier Eurocopter and the joint venture MBDA, the second largest missile producer in the world.
Friedrichshafen, January 21, 2004/03403
For further information:
| Michael Hartwig |
Tel.: 07545-8-9124 Fax: 07545-8-5888 mailto: michael.hartwig@dornier.eads.net |
