Horiba Mira has been awarded a £700,000 cross-government collaborative program contract for the second phase of the Autonomous Last Mile Resupply (ALMRS).

Through the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), along with the Department for International Development (DFID) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), are collaborating to deliver advanced designs for UAS and robots, which could cause a massive change in how humanitarian aid or supplies for front-line troops are delivered.

“Defence makes an unrivalled investment in science and technology, creating thousands of highly-skilled jobs and brilliant career opportunities, generating billions for the UK economy,” says Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Defence.

“This Autonomous Last Mile competition has seen next-generation concepts come to life and they could be saving troops’ lives on the battlefield in years to come.”

Using VIKING, which is its latest all-terrain, multirole UGV platform, Horiba Mira will develop its own “end-to-end logistics resupply capability.” The UGV is integrated with advanced AI-based autonomous systems, including GPS denied navigation, advanced terrain perception and object recognition.

The 6x6, two-ton UGV can deliver up to 600 kilograms of supplies over 200 kilometers. For command and control, the UGV system uses a “novel low-bandwidth communication system.”

Users in the field can make logistics resupply demands that are passed to the UGV using a hand-held terminal. Using its advanced autonomy, VIKING adapts its own route on roads, tracks and across complex terrain to deliver the supplies.

“DASA support is enabling us to take novel AI concepts and integrate them into a state-of-the-art unmanned vehicle, to develop an autonomous last mile system for demonstration in very short timescales,” says Andrew Maloney, Chief Engineer for UGVs and Defence at HORIBA MIRA.

“Working with the Dstl technical partners and stakeholders has helped us focus and steer our development to maximise exploitation potential and future benefits for UK MOD and other government stakeholders.”

142 Phase One proposals were originally submitted during the summer of 2017. Horiba Mira is now one of only five successful bids to enter Phase Two.

The VIKING prototype ALMRS system will be tested and demonstrated alongside the British Army Warfighting Experiment, Autonomous Warrior Land, which takes place on Salisbury Plain this fall. All tests and evaluations on VIKING will take place in relevant front-line scenarios.