$1 million in funding from the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (AvMC) has been awarded to RE2 Robotics to develop a robotic system that can autonomously refuel AH-64 Apache helicopters in the field.
Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center in Port Hueneme, California, is managing the project entitled Remote Robotic Refueling for Extended Missions (R3EM), which is part of the Autonomous and Robotic Remote Refueling Point (AR3P) program.
RE2’s proprietary perception software will be used by R3EM to control its highly dexterous robotic arm mounted on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), which will autonomously position and engage a fuel nozzle in the helicopter’s fuel port. Pratt Miller is providing its TMT-I rugged mobile base for the program, which RE2 is partnering with.
The system will be able to function outdoors in a unstructured environment, due to multiple perception sensors providing 3D situational awareness. When fueling is complete, the system will automatically disconnect the fuel nozzle from the aircraft.
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