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A Maine robotics company is in the running to build the Army's next generation of battlefield support vehicles.
Waterboro-based Howe and Howe Technologies is competing with three other firms for a massive government contract to build autonomous vehicles that will carry ammunition and supplies into combat with Army ground forces.
"It is going to be a huge thing in the future, as big as drones or Humvees," said Michael Howe, who owns the company with his twin, Geoffrey. The Army is expected to order thousands of the units by 2020.
[...] To get to this point, Howe and Howe had to pass a grueling field test of their vehicle in the thick swamps and forests of Fort Benning, Georgia.
[...] The outcome, however, was worth it. Howe and Howe passed the trials, beating major defense companies like Lockheed Martin and AM General, which builds the Humvee, and moving onto the next phase of product development.
[...] The other companies moving onto the next development phase are General Dynamics Land Systems, HDT Global and a combined effort from Applied Research Associates and Polaris Defense.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday December 31 2017, @10:42PM
These things are perfect for martial law. Either moving down city alleys or through the woods where those evil White Iraq War veterans are hiding with their racist buddies and black automatic heavy assault rifles.
This was something that I, being an employee of Boston Dynamics, alluded to in my earlier posts about our designs beaten by the "bomb squad robot" configuration. Besides it being common-sense, it was also common-knowledge that the competition had something more sensible and rugged.