The Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) is one of the US Army’s flagship ground vehicle technology programs, aimed at completing complex ground missions while removing soldiers from the line of fire. The program brings together vehicle manufacturers, autonomy developers, and system integrators. 

Less frequently mentioned: RCV heavily relies on teleoperation alongside autonomy. Teleoperation means the remote operation of a vehicle by a human operator. In fact, according to generals interviewed by Breaking Defense, the limitations of both autonomy and teleoperations are forcing the army to rethink mission sets. If soldiers need to stay within close range of the robotic vehicle, the benefits shrink dramatically. 

RCV is not alone: every defense ground autonomy project relies on teleoperation. Self-driving cars remain many years away from mass production in the relatively structured environment of public roads, and autonomy is decades away from being able to reliably drive vehicles in the chaos of a constantly changing battlefield. While the headlines focus on autonomy, the robustness and range of teleoperations heavily influence overall system capabilities. 

Furthermore, based on our defense experience, the requirements do not remain static. Ukrainian and Israeli militaries have developed and deployed new robotic capabilities during their current conflicts, to meet new battlefield challenges. Militaries must constantly improve both autonomy and teleoperations to keep up with the state of the art, and must also update mission sets along with the capabilities. Therefore, a system with a modern, modular architecture that can be updated regularly is critical for future-proofing.  

Teleoperation: The benefits of autonomy - today

Just as in commercial markets, defense bodies seek the benefits of autonomy today. But it is not so simple: autonomy has and likely always will have limits, and militaries must design systems accordingly. Therefore, militaries focus on combining the best teleoperation capabilities with the best autonomy capabilities. As autonomy improves, it will take over more and more tasks from soldiers, but the teleoperations will remain a foundational component. 

The British Army, for example, envisions robotics and autonomous systems operating in Human-Machine Teams, and has established a long-term project to develop this concept. The US Army Human-Machine Integrated Formations (HMIF) project aims to even more deeply integrate human capabilities and robotic capabilities, using a baseline autonomy capability and resilient teleoperations.   

To bring these visions to fruition in the long term, soldiers will develop new techniques to get the most of their robotic systems. From our field experience, intuitive consumer-level interfaces that work across different vehicle types and different form factors are taking on greater importance. With these interfaces, soldiers that have grown up playing video games can easily teleoperate military vehicles, and their experience can transfer across different vehicle types and mission sets to enable operational flexibility. 

Ottopia: Leading Teleoperation Technology, Across Defense and Commercial Markets 

As the teleoperations technology leader, Ottopia offers tremendous value to defense applications. Our existing defense customers enjoy reliable teleoperations across a variety of vehicle types, form factors, and communications technologies. These advantages deliver enhanced safety and operational flexibility, with rapid deployment. 

Our patented technology platform: 

• Dramatically reduces required bandwidth, enabling operation in environments that other systems cannot handle. 
• Detects real-time network conditions and adjusts system parameters accordingly, enabling continued operation even in degraded network conditions. 
• Provides a natural and intuitive operator experience, enabling operational flexibility and rapid deployment.
• Works across a wide variety of communications technologies (eg satellite, RF, private/public cellular), enabling long distance teleoperations with redundancy.  

Our deep experience across commercial and defense teleoperations enables us to deliver the best of both worlds. Our system has been tested and improved by recent battlefield experience. 

We offer a modular system designed for flexibility in deployment and regular updates, along with a consumer-level, intuitive interface that enables soldiers to maximize system capabilities. And all of this comes in a highly reliable, battle-tested package. 

Contact Ottopia to learn how we contribute to defense initiatives today, and to discuss how we can improve your robotic systems.