Extending Mobile Security Robots to Force Protection Missions

The Mobile Detection Assessment Response System (MDARS) is a joint Army-Navy development effort to field mobile robots at Department of Defense (DoD) sites for physical security and automated inventory missions. MDARS was initiated in 1989 to improve the effectiveness of a shrinking guard force, but was quickly expanded to address the intensive manpower requirements associated with accounting for high-dollar and critical DoD assets. Two types of autonomous platforms patrol inside warehouses (Interior) and outside of storage facilities (Exterior), carrying payloads for intruder detection, inventory assessment, and barrier assessment. The MDARS console for command and control is based upon the Multiple Resource Host Architecture (MRHA), which allows a single human guard to oversee and monitor up to 255 platforms and/or unmanned sensors. Recent improvements to satisfy mission requirements for physical security have expanded the system capabilities to enable force-protection missions in tactical situations. Rapid-prototyping approaches have facilitated investigations into aiming and firing less-than-lethal weapons on an unmanned platform, deployment of a marsupial capability to carry smaller robots, and seamless all- digital communication between unmanned sensors and unmanned ground and air vehicles. This paper provides an overview of the MDARS evolutionary development approach (using mobile robots and fixed sensors) for both physical security and force protection missions. Special treatment is provided on feedback from developmental tests at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD, and operational tests at Defense Distribution Depot Susquehanna PA. 1. Background The goal of MDARS is to field interior and exterior autonomous platforms for security and inventory assessment functions at DoD warehouses and storage sites. The program is managed by the Office of the Product Manager, Physical Security Equipment, (PM-PSE) at Ft. Belvoir, VA, with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego (SSC San Diego) providing technical direction and systems integration functions. Separate development efforts target warehouse interiors and outdoor storage areas: MDARS-Interior program and MDARS-Exterior program respectively. In 1998, the MDARS-Interior (MDARS-I) Engineering Manufacturing Development (EMD) contract was awarded to General Dynamics Robotics Systems (GDRS) of Westminster, MD. The EMD platform is a Cybermotion K3A Cyberguard mobility base equipped with additional collision avoidance, intruder assessment, and product inventory subsystems by GDRS. From May to July of 2001, the system underwent a successful Limited User Test (LUT) at the Defense Distribution Depot Susquehanna PA (DDSP). The system is expected to be approved for Low Rate Initial Production in FY02 followed by the first installation at Rock Island Arsenal in FY03.