Solution will enable autonomous repair of airfield and port damage, as well as naval base construction missions
PITTSBURGH – Oct. 27 – Neya Systems, the leading provider of off-road autonomy and mission orchestration software, has been awarded a $3.3 million contract to deliver an Autonomous Construction Equipment (ACE) Kit to the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The ACE solution will enable the autonomous repair of airfields and ports, as well as naval base construction, in high-risk environments where personnel are often exposed to significant hazards.
The ACE system is platform-agnostic and will be deployed on the NCF’s existing fleets of vehicles with scalability to additional vehicles, including skid steer loaders, forklifts, bulldozers, and front-end loaders. Neya’s autonomy stack, N-Drive™, will deliver a variety of advanced autonomous construction behaviors to the ACE Kit.
In addition to N-Drive, ACE combines FOCUS ATAK, its command-and-control solution, with the Mission Planning and Management System (MPMS), its one-to-many fleet management system, to provide operators with a unified way to manage multi-vehicle autonomous construction and repair operations. FOCUS ATAK provides situational awareness and operator control, while MPMS enables teams to coordinate and manage multiple vehicles working together across a mission. Together, the system serves as a force multiplier, giving operators the flexibility to manage complex construction tasks while reducing cognitive workload and keeping personnel out of harm’s way.
“Autonomous construction provides the Naval Construction Force with an innovative way to approach the repair and construction of the U.S. Navy’s critical infrastructure in dangerous environments,” said Kurt Bruck, vice president, Neya Systems. “By automating repetitive and hazardous construction tasks, our technology can help to reduce the exposure of personnel to dangerous work, while enabling infrastructure to be repaired, restored, or built more efficiently in areas with limited or nonexistent infrastructure.”
Backed by more than a decade of development in autonomous construction for the U.S. military and commercial construction Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), ACE will provide the NCF with a full spectrum of construction autonomy behaviors from teleoperation through semi-autonomous and fully autonomous behaviors. The system is designed to remain operational in demanding GPS-denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited (DDIL) environments.
The award is being administered for the U.S. Army Contracting Command and Detroit Arsenal through the National Advanced Mobility Consortium (NAMC), a non-profit alliance to advance ground and robotics technologies for the U.S. military.
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ABOUT NEYA SYSTEMS
Neya Systems, a division of Applied Research Associates, is committed to advancing the field of unmanned systems through the development and integration of cutting-edge technologies and expertise in autonomy, computer vision, cybersecurity, and general unmanned systems development and deployment. Our team of experts is dedicated to creating innovative solutions that help our customers meet their mission goals. To learn more about Neya Systems, visit neyarobotics.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
ABOUT ARA
Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) was founded in 1979, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to offer science and engineering research to solve problems of national importance. ARA delivers leading-edge products and innovative solutions for national defense, energy, homeland security, aerospace, healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing. With over 2,000 employee-owners at locations in the U.S. and Canada, ARA offers a broad range of technical expertise in defense technologies, civil engineering, computer software and simulation, systems analysis, biomedical engineering, environmental technologies, and blast testing and measurement.
ABOUT NAMC
The National Advanced Mobility Consortium, Inc. (NAMC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, member driven consortium that provides professional opportunities and connections that result in cutting-edge technology for the United States Military. As one of the longest-serving Department of Defense (DoD) consortiums, NAMC acts as a bridge between the DoD and the member organizations that foster member-driven innovations to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and victory for the US Military. For more information about NAMC, please visit www.NAMConsortium.org.
DISCLAIMER
This effort was sponsored by the U.S. Government under Other Transaction number W56HZV-23-9-D001 with The National Advanced Mobility Consortium, Inc. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation herein.
The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government, The National Advanced Mobility Consortium, Inc., or any of its members.
