84 highly-capable system but the fact is, in warfare scenarios, UGVs can’t be expected to survive very long, so what matters more is that you engineer a UGV that’s affordable to build and supply en mass.” To that end, ARX has picked and integrated automotive sensors and other components wherever possible, such systems being sufficiently rugged for harsh environments while also being manufactured in bulk. Information on the UGV’s own health telemetry and on its surroundings is delivered and processed via ARX’s Mithra OS, which has been developed as an open interface, AI-powered software core that can enable interconnectivity between crewed and uncrewed vehicles, as well as over-the-air software updates and swarming operations between meshed uncrewed assets. As an off-road vehicle, the Gereon RCS has been successfully tested in snowy and muddy terrains, including negative temperatures in winter and above 40 C heat in summer. The standard UGV configuration is fully-electric, silent operations being more important than the extra range a fuel powertrain would bring; the Lithium-ion battery pack gives up to 40 km of range between charges, and is based on a design intended for heavy-duty machine vehicles. Up to 72 hours of operation can be achieved, given the CONOPS for such UGVs involving potentially many hours spent in a stationary ‘watcher’ role. The system is also capable of carrying up to 500 kg of payload at a time. “To thermally manage the batteries in extreme environments, we’ve equipped them with a heating system for winters, and a wide heat sink for cooling – but as a high voltage pack, we tend not to have severe heat losses,” Ramke says. Logistics The use of autonomous tow tractors in warehouses, factories, airports and other industrial logistics zones has been established for several years now, but with greater experience and cognizance comes optimisations, which bring vehicles and software alike ever closer to something ideally cost-efficient, scalable and applicable for real-world business applications. As UK-based Fusion Processing has found, while developing such vehicles through customer projects, there is great demand for applying full autonomy to tow tractors, to relieve drivers and fleet managers of some of their most repetitive burdens, and improving overall workplace efficiency. Achieving that requires optimisation, but not absolute maximisation of UGV intelligence nor capabilities. “While we’re still working in a number of road vehicle projects, we’ve had a collaboration with Bradshaw Electric Vehicles for around three years now, which involved working with a customer to get tow trucks working to their exact needs onsite – we can’t name them, but they’re a manufacturer with several sites in the UK and on every continent,” explains Jim Hutchinson, CEO of Fusion Processing. “Like many successful companies, they already use significant automation, but are reaching a point where their tow trucks need a sudden jump in movement intelligence, and flexibility in autonomous decision-making, to cope with different factors to their usual problems – for instance, when switching between outdoor and indoor navigation, or moving amidst HGVs in an off-loading area.” April/May 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The Gereon RCS UGV (pictured in the foreground) from ARX Robotics can integrate many payloads for vital defence work (Image courtesy of ARX Robotics) The T800 Tow Tractor is being applied in autonomous airport, warehouse and factory logistics, through Fusion Processing’s optimised CAVstar autonomy suite (Image courtesy of Bradshaw Electric Vehicles)
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