Establishing a virtual manufacturing environment for military robots

Recent advances in the robotics industry have given the military an opportunity to capitalize on industry's innovation. Not only has core robotics technology improved but robotics manufacturing technology has also made significant improvements. This has enabled the U.S. military to procure robotic counterparts at an astonishing rate. The military expects to have a significant contingent of robots in the battle field by 2015. Today, "automated or remote-controlled machines are sniffing out mines, defusing explosives and watching for signs of danger".I The Army's Future Combat Systems program to revolutionize the military into a quicker, faster, and more lethal force is predicated on the rapid development of robotics technologies.2 Four out of the twelve vehicle systems being developed under the FCS program are unmanned vehicles requiring advanced robotics technologies. With this rapid pace of development a need for sound manufacturing environments exist to ensure product quality, availability, cost, and continuing innovation.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Andersen, Ryan J. (Ryan John)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jonathan Byrnes and Steven B. Leeb.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39591

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39591