Carnegie Mellon University

Defense

NREC brings innovative robotics technology to warfighters and military operations. Since 1995, NREC has been working with Department of Defense clients including DARPA, AFRL, TARDEC, USMCWL, OSD TRMC, NAVEODTECHDIV, PM Night Vision RSTA, USACE, JGRE, ONR, US Army, US Air Force and others. An impressive roster of projects and awards highlights NREC's mission to "engineer robotics solutions." NREC constantly pushes the boundaries of what's possible and can solve your most challenging operational, tactical or logistic capability gaps.

Capabilities

Autonomous Vehicles

From inspection robots to tactical vehicles

Equipment and Site Monitoring

Detection of abnormal situations or intruders

ISR

Video processing and georeferencing. Detection of anomalies and IEDs

 

Teleoperation

3D Teleoperation and S.A. from around the globe. Latency compensation and bandwidth management

GPS-Denied Navigation

Warfighter localization and vehicle navigation

3D Mapping

Accurate, real-time mapping of tunnels, roads and cities

Safety Systems

Safety components, architecture, testing and evaluation for complex autonomous systems

Vehicle Design

Superior mobility from 15-lbs to 15-tons. Wheels or tracks. Hybrid electric and custom drivetrain

Applications

Off-Road Autonomy

Unmanned Convoy

Route Clearance

Tunnel and Building Inspection and Mapping

Manned and Unmanned Teaming

Logistics Operations

Perimeter Security

Depot and Maintenance Automation

Featured Projects

Stress Testing for Autonomous Systems

Finds autonomy system safety problems that are unlikely to be discovered by other types of tests.

Cargo Unmanned Ground Vehicle

NREC teamed with Oshkosh Defense to develop autonomous unmanned ground vehicle technologies for logistics tactical wheeled vehicles used by the US Marine Corps. 

Autonomous Route Clearance

NREC and Oshkosh Defense adapted Cargo UGVs to detect and clear explosives from convoy routes.

Laser Coating Removal for Aircraft

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) and NREC developed an environmentally friendly system to remove coatings from U.S. Air Force aircraft.

Other Defense Projects

3d Visualization for EOD Robots

3D Visualization for EOD Robots

NREC developed a plug-and-play camera and range finder module that assists Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technicians during robots operation and manipulation.

ARMOR ONE

ARMOR 1

NREC is engineering an automated robotic system for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to perform “revetment” operations along the Mississippi River. The system is called “Armor One.”

Autonomous Platform Demonstrator

Autonomous Platform Demonstrator

NREC’s Autonomous Platform Demonstrator (APD) is a 9-ton, skid-steer unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) with extreme off-road mobility and the ability to drive up to 80 kph.

Black Knight

Black Knight

NREC developed sensing, teleoperation, and autonomy packages for BAE Systems' Black Knight, a prototype unmanned ground combat vehicle (UGCV).

Crusher

Crusher

NREC designed and developed the Crusher vehicle to support the UPI program's rigorous field experimentation schedule.

Demising Augmented Reality

Demining Augmented Reality

NREC has developed an augmented reality training system for hand-held land mine detectors. It is implemented using a pair of custom-designed stereo cameras with onboard visual-inertial odometry tracking paired with a commercially available augmented reality headset.

Dragon Runner

Dragon Runner

NREC’s Dragon Runner is an ultra-rugged, portable, lightweight reconnaissance robot used by the U.S. Marine Corps in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) for urban reconnaissance and sentry missions.

Enhanced Teleoperation

Enhanced Teleoperation

NREC developed Enhanced Teleoperation: a real-time 3D video system to improve situation awareness in teleoperation and indirect driving of unmanned ground vehicles in complex environment.

Enhanced Teleoperation - Mini SACR

Enhanced Teleoperation - Mini SACR

NREC’s miniaturized Situational Awareness Through Colorized Ranging (SACR) system fuses video and range data from a small panoramic camera ring and scanning LADAR sensor.

EOD Robot Operator Assist

EOD Robot Operator Assist

Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Robot Operator Assist gives EOD robots the ability to navigate intelligently to their targets.

Infantry Support

Infantry Support

NREC designed, developed, field tested and successfully demonstrated a high-mobility tactical unmanned ground vehicle (TUGV) for the United States Marine Corps.

Learning Robots

Learning Robots

NREC designed, built and delivered 12 robots for the Learning Applied to Ground Robots (LAGR) DARPA program.

Long Distance Teleoperation - Avatar

Long Distance Teleoperation - Avatar

The Avatar technology allows operators to drive robots at higher speeds and with greater safety at nearly unlimited stand-off distances, opening new applications for robotics.

Negative Obstacle Detection

Negative Obstacle Detection

NREC is developed a perception system to accurately detect negative obstacles in the path of an unmanned vehicle (UGV).

Off-Road Autonomy

Off-Road Autonomy

NREC developed an autonomous navigation system for large scale, unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) operating autonomously in a wide range of complex, off-road terrains.

Path Planning for Autonomous Vessel

Path Planning for Autonomous Vessel

NREC developed a path planner for the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Autonomous Vessel (ACTUV).

Perception for LS3

Perception for LS3

NREC’s sensor system for DARPA’s Legged Squad Support System (LS3) enables LS3 to perceive its surroundings and autonomously track and follow a human leader.

Spinner

Spinner

An NREC-led team delivered technical breakthroughs in mobility, mission endurance and payload fraction with the development of Spinner an unmanned ground vehicle.

Sweep Monitoring

Sweep Monitoring

NREC has developed for US Army Research Office and CECOM (US Army Night Vision Lab) the Sweep Monitoring System (SMS) for training soldiers and demining personnel to use hand-held land mine detectors.

Tartan Rescue Team

Tartan Rescue Team

CHIMP is the 3rd place winner of the DARPA Robotics Challenge, which drove the development of robots with human-like capabilities for disaster response.  CHIMP successfully completed eight tasks in less than 60 minutes.

UGV & UAV Collaboration

UGV & UAV Collaboration

NREC and Sikorsky Aircraft paired an autonomous ground vehicle with an unmanned helicopter to autonomously survey sites for radiation, biological or chemical contamination.  

Urban Challenge

Urban Challenge

Carnegie Mellon University/NREC and General Motors built an autonomous SUV (named "Boss") that won first place in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, 20 minutes ahead of the 2nd place finisher.