Squishy Robotics’ air deployment capabilities and our robots’ customizable payloads were ideal innovations for a late-summer event in the Aloha State. Lead Mechatronics Engineer Douglas Hutchings spent six busy days at a demonstration sponsored by the Applied Research Lab at the University of Hawaii (ARL at UH). The 2021 Technology Incubation, Demonstration and Experimentation Support (TIDES) event was titled: “Human-machine teaming: Predictive autonomous cargo delivery supporting contested logistics in an island-hopping small team resupply scenario.”
ARL at UH partnered with industry and relevant defense stakeholders to assess technology performance in field testing in an island and ocean environment that demonstrated the new and emerging technologies that can respond to the unique operational challenges of an island-based resupply operation.
“The event’s scenario of a hub-and-spoke resupply model was a perfect fit for our technology,” said Hutchings. “We provided rapidly deployable situational awareness and communications capabilities at the spoke to inform follow-on supporting personnel’s actions once they arrived at the site. We also provided perimeter monitoring capabilities throughout the friendly force’s activities at the spoke.” Hutchings met and worked alongside of several new vendors and potential customers to establish new use case needs. “It was exciting to engage and work in these island delivery simulations where our technologies were well-suited to the many challenges of ground, air, and ocean operations.”
Hawaii locations for TIDES-21 demonstration in late summer. Photos courtesy of ARL at UH.