The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Mobile Robotics Program

Today’s regional military conflicts are increasingly likely to occur in populated urban areas, in, around, over, and under unknown buildings. This places land forces in dangerous and unpredictable situations, and in many instances the conflicts also threaten noncombatants. To address this need, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Tactical Mobile Robotics program is researching and developing the capability to perform urban reconnaissance with teams of small, low-cost, semiautonomous mobile robots. Easily transportable by individuals, these robot teams will be capable of working together to perform a variety of reconnaissance functions. The program develops enabling technologies (machine perception, autonomous operation, and robotic locomotion) and integrates them into tactical systems for urban operations.