Royal Air Force Begins Trials of Robots
Academy of Robotics and the UK Royal Air Force have announced a new trial deployment of autonomous vehicles at an air base as part of the Astra campaign to deliver next-generation capabilities. This is the first trial in which autonomous vehicles have been deployed at a British RAF air base.
During the trial, the Kar-go Delivery Bot from Academy of Robotics delivers tools, equipment and consumables to RAF Brize Norton, located near Oxford. RAF personnel then go out to meet the vehicle. A hatch opens automatically, allowing them to retrieve the package.
During the trial, the vehicles will carry out autonomous and semi-autonomous procedures under the supervision of a safety team from a mobile command post. This unique remote control centre is a secure mobile unit that can monitor all aspects of the robots' operation. From this location, the team will also be able to remotely take control of the vehicle if necessary.
For safety reasons, only trained and authorised personnel may move goods around the air base, but the use of safe autonomous vehicles can provide valuable support to professional staff, freeing up their time to focus on the core tasks they were trained for. Because the devices are electric, this technology also opens up opportunities to reduce harmful emissions, helping the RAF achieve its net zero mission by 2040.
The trial, partly funded by the RAF Astra program with the British company Academy of Robotics, is the first step in understanding and exploring the potential use of autonomous delivery vehicles to support RAF operations.
Alongside large-scale projects, the Astra program aims to involve the entire force, made up of regular military personnel, reservists, civilians and contractors, in driving change by identifying and overcoming obstacles that hinder progress, whether big or small, and working more intelligently. This includes developing innovation together with Ministry of Defence partners to create an environment where ideas can thrive.
“Using autonomous driving technology on the base offers many advantages. Ultimately, we could see a fleet of vehicles with varying levels of autonomy delivering consumables, spare parts, tools and food, as well as providing airfield services such as refuelling aircraft, clearing runways and removing snow and ice. Our staff are highly trained, but we must keep them safe. We see this trial as our first step in understanding how we can safely make this vision a reality”
Bases such as RAF Brize Norton support operations around the world and across the UK. This includes teams ready to support humanitarian efforts worldwide around the clock, including every day of the week, and to provide military assistance to civil authorities in the UK.
“Last month we saw a fantastic response from our teams: they put in extra hours and gave up leave to support Afghan rescue operations. This is the kind of work our aviators want to focus on, and in situations like these, every minute saved can save a life. This trial is part of an ongoing program aimed at eliminating routine tasks that cause unnecessary stress and inconvenience for our people, helping our highly skilled staff do the job they joined the RAF to do, and do it as effectively as possible”
Although extensive pre-scanning and data collection are typical for training autonomous vehicles on a specific route, so they can learn to recognise its various features, security restrictions meant the team had to develop a proprietary system to minimise data collection and allow the vehicle to move safely without such training. In addition, the team had to solve some new challenges unique to driving on an airfield and teach the AI to learn new behaviours, such as stopping at a green light on the airfield.
The Kar-go Delivery Bot is only part of a complete autonomous technology system developed by the future British technology company Academy of Robotics.
“Safely moving goods around a site is a serious challenge for almost all large organisations, and although we have optimised everything we do to be able to run trials like this, where technology can complement core work carried out at large industrial sites, every location has its own nuances and challenges. The fact that we designed and built every aspect of the autonomous driving system, from the vehicle to the software and the mobile command centre, was a huge advantage, giving us full control and significantly simplifying adaptation to the specific integration challenges of the environment we work in”
The trial is the culmination of months of close collaboration and planning between the company and the RAF. Afterwards, the RAF will carefully review the results and consider how they can be scaled effectively as part of its continued commitment to innovation within the RAF.
“We are proud to have been able to work with a leading British technology firm to help them understand and address the specific challenges of operating at a live air base, and to pioneer this use of self-driving technology. Working closely with the Academy of Robotics team on this project, we are confident that the findings from the trial will help us design and develop processes for smarter logistics in line with the RAF's next-generation requirements”
