Rheinmetall has once again demonstrated its expertise in the field of artificial intelligence. It was able to achieve a significant success in connection with the Interoperable Robotic Convoy (InterRoC) project. In the European Land Robot Trial 2024 (ELROB) competition, the Rheinmetall InterRoc team consisting of the Research & Technology department of Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH and Rheinmetall Canada Inc. took first place in the “Automated Convoy” category. The combination of HX truck and integrated PATH autonomy kit proved its worth.
The Rheinmetall PATH autonomy kit (“PATH A-Kit”) is an AI-supported navigation system that can be installed in almost any vehicle. It has already proven itself several times in tests on various platforms, including the Mission Master robotic vehicle family. Just last year it was successfully used in the 2023 Estonia Unmanned Ground Systems Autonomy Trials. At ELROB 2024, the PATH A-Kit controlled two of the highly mobile HX logistics vehicles as part of the convoy scenario. Both HX vehicles were also equipped with a drive-by-wire system.
The ELROB is one of the most demanding open, international competitions in the field of robotics, sensor technology and autonomy. Every two years, participants from universities as well as civilian and military manufacturers compete against each other. The aim is to test the capabilities of modern robots. This year was the 12th edition. It took place from June 24 to 28 at the Military Technical Center WTD 41 in Trier. 19 teams took part. The Rheinmetall subsidiaries Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH (RLS) and Rheinmetall Canada competed in a tactical leader-follower scenario and a current real-world scenario.
The level of difficulty of this year’s tasks has been increased considerably compared to the 2022 competition. The autonomous trucks and the convoy commander had to react to dynamic obstacles, alternative routes and various electromagnetic interference, among other things. However, all tasks were solved in an exemplary manner by the system.
The HX vehicles had to overcome 11 different obstacles on a 6 km circuit. The most difficult challenges included narrow paths, transitions between on-road and off-road driving, navigating through open and dense forests, communication breakdowns, reversing and driving around obstacles. “The course was very challenging. The organizers did a fantastic job of making the competition a realistic military scenario and our performance shows that the Rheinmetall PATH-A kit is ready for real-world use cases,” said Paul Rocco, Managing Director of Rheinmetall Provectus. The company was acquired by Rheinmetall Canada in 2019.
The competition organizers also surprised the Rheinmetall team by introducing a car into their convoy. This forced the following truck to slow down and navigate around the moving obstacle. The convoy was also broken up, so the team had to remotely control the following truck on a parallel path and reconfigure the convoy to make the remote-controlled truck the new convoy leader. “The ELROB scenario 2024 was considerably more demanding than, for example, the scenario for the ELROB participation in 2022,” commented Sebastian Elze, the project manager from the Research & Technology division of Rheinmetall Landsysteme who is responsible for the autonomous InterRoC overall system, among other things.
Despite these challenges, the team completed most of the route in convoy mode without GPS as the terrain was covered with dense foliage. “This is the first time we have demonstrated this new specific capability, which represents a significant upgrade for the PATH A kit,” said Luc Brunet, Director of Robotics and Autonomous Systems at Rheinmetall Provectus. “We were able to seamlessly switch between GPS-enabled and GPS-free environments without any loss of functionality or noticeable change in operations.”
Although ELROB is a non-competitive event focused solely on research and development, an awards ceremony was held at the end of the trial to give participants the opportunity to receive feedback and insights from the judges. This year, Rheinmetall received the award for Best Convoy Performance, a first for the company and an important milestone for the PATH A-Kit.
In addition to the evaluated scenarios, the field of autonomous driving was also demonstrated to the many visitors – including generals and other military personnel from various countries, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Defense, the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) and the WTD41 – on the open presentation grounds. The vehicles in the competition, which were also exhibited and available for demonstration drives, were very well received by the visitors and aroused great interest.
The Research & Technology division of Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH from Unterlüß took part in this event for the first time in 2022 as Team InterRoC as part of the InterRoC project in the field of automated convoys. At that time, it achieved second place directly with an American autonomy kit provided by BAAINBw and integrated by Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH.
The InterRoC project was launched four years ago to derive customer requirements for future autonomous logistics vehicles. It is continuously expanded by the BAAINBw through supplementary orders in terms of system capabilities. Among other things, it includes two military HX2 trucks that are equipped with autonomy kits and drive-by-wire and follow each other in a leader-follower principle. With a view to ELROB 2024, the PATH autonomy kit developed by Rheinmetall Canada Inc. was also installed in the vehicles, so that participation in the competition could take place with a complete “Rheinmetall solution”.
SOURCE: Rheinmetall
