Contract drives research forward

THE Australian Army has awarded Deakin University a $3.5 million contract to support its Leader-Follower autonomous vehicle technology program.

The contract is in addition to $2.9 million the Australian Army allocated to the program in 2018.

Research is being conducted at Deakin Waurn Ponds’ Intelligent Systems Research and Innovation (IISRI) institute.

Deputy vice-chancellor research and Alfred Deakin professor Julie Owens said she was pleased to have the Australian Army’s continued support.

“Deakin continues to work very closely with the Australian Defence Force to provide key technologies and capabilities to strengthen Australia’s sovereign capabilities,” Professor Owens said.

“Deakin is uniquely geared towards providing solutions to real-world problems and we are proud of our track record and successful past delivery of projects for our clients, including the Australian Army.

“It is a privilege to play a role in protecting Australia and bringing greater prosperity to Australian society.”

IISRI director professor Saeid Nahavandi has been researching haptics and robotics for three decades.

He said Deakin was focusing on convoys with the current technology but also noted its flexibility.

“This technology gives vehicles autonomous enormous capability so that a group of vehicles can move from A to B quite easily. Driving on a highway or cruising around an urban area is one thing, but our technology allows these vehicles to travel off-road in far more complex, unstructured, rough terrain – over river beds and through creeks – even when there’s no markings on the ground,” Professor Nahavandi said.

“One of the key advantages of this system is its adaptability – it can be retrofitted to old and new vehicles, providing a total vehicle agnostic solution for a range of transport including tanks, transporters, bulldozers and trucks.”

Professor Nahavandi said the technology had the potential to be used for a variety of purposes.

“Aspects of the bolt-on pack will also have the capability to be used in air and sea domains and the technology can easily be adopted in other non-defence sectors such as transportation and logistics, mining and agriculture, all of which are of immense value to the Australian economy.”