The Navy recently opened a new lab for experimenting with autonomous systems to see how they will react in adverse environments like the desert, along beach shores or even in a jungle.
The Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) began operations two weeks ago, but the doors at the Washington facility were opened to the media for the first time yesterday.
The purpose of LASR is to make it easier to begin evaluating systems earlier without having to step outside of the lab and perform more costly field tests in faraway locations. The Navy believes the new $17.7-million lab will help speed the transition of the latest technology to the warfighter while saving money.
“We think of it as risk reduction,” Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, the head of the Office of Naval Research (ONR), told reporters.
The lab allows scientists to detect and correct problems with a system before it’s taken to the field, Klunder said. Nevertheless, the lab cannot provide a complete evaluation, and the technology will eventually have to be brought to field once it reaches the tactical levels of testing are required, Klunder said.
The facility features a large bay for experimenting with unmanned vehicles and robotics, including a robot that was shown to be directed to a simulated ship compartment to extinguish a fire.
Other key rooms at LASR create the environment of a desert, where a robotic arm sifted through sand to search for improvised explosive devices, which emerged as a leading killer of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. A second room featured a pool that can be used to test unmanned systems in shore scenarios. Sand can be dumped in to see how the systems are able to mitigate the adverse condition, said Glen Henshaw, a lead roboticist at NRL.
The largest in volume of the habitat rooms, the jungle creates a Southeast Asian tropical rainforest and allows scientists to adjust temperature and humidity levels. It contains real vegetation, resembles a greenhouse botanical garden and can simulate rain.
Asked how much it would cost to operate the jungle on a regular basis, Henshaw could not provide a figure but said it was “less expensive than going to Hawaii.”