The National Advanced Mobility Consortium, a non-profit alliance to advance ground and robotics technologies for the U.S. military, recently awarded Pittsburgh-based Neya Systems, an off-road autonomy and mission orchestration software provider, a $3.3 million contract. The consortium is administering the contract for the U.S. Army Contracting Command and Detroit Arsenal.
Under the contract, Neya Systems will provide the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF) with
an Autonomous Construction Equipment (ACE) Kit, a solution that enables the autonomous repair of airfields and ports in high-risk environments where personnel are often exposed to significant hazards. It also can be used for naval base construction. The ACE system will be deployed on the NCF’s existing vehicles such as bulldozers, forklifts, front-end loaders, and skid steer loaders.
“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.”
ACE is designed to remain operational in demanding GPS-denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited environments.