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Robotics Rodeo coming to Hood next week

The Army’s first “Robotics Rodeo” will take place Aug. 31 to Sept. 4 at Fort Hood, Texas, officials announced Monday.

III Corps at Fort Hood and the Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, based at the Detroit Arsenal, Mich., are hosting the event, which brings together robotics experts and companies from across the country.

The goal of the rodeo is to find innovative robotic solutions and encourage development of autonomous systems to support troops in combat.

“It’s all about saving lives. There’s got to be a sense of urgency,” Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, commanding general of III Corps and Fort Hood, recently told attendees at an Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International exhibition in Washington, D.C.

The rodeo is not a competition. Instead, it is a market research event to determine which industry technologies could benefit the Army’s robotics programs.

Lynch, who has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a proponent of what robots can do for soldiers. During the rodeo, he wants soldiers who just returned from combat to use the systems so they can give developers their feedback on what works and what does not. The rodeo, which is open to the public, will feature displays and demonstrations.

For more information, visit www.tardec.info/roboticsrodeo.