Vehicle engineering specialists MIRA have unveiled “MACE 2”, their second generation autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV). MACE 2 is capable of taking British soldiers out of harms way, by fulfilling a number of roles currently requiring human input.

With a top speed of 80mph MACE 2 is no slouch, easily keeping pace with more traditional ‘manned vehicles’. MOD convoy speeds are routinely around 30mph, making MACE 2 ideally suited to convoy support roles. With this in mind the generous payload bays, 1 ton load capacity and integral ‘clean’ power supplies ensure that MACE 2 is more than capable of carrying and powering modern comms equipment, IED detection technology, electronic counter measures - even a remote weapons station.

The agile 4WD chassis is capable of vertical step climbing, ditch crossing and exceeds the mobility requirements set out in DEF STAN 23-6 for an ‘Improved Medium Mobility Load Carrier (IMMLC), demonstrating that this UGV really is a go-anywhere platform.

MACE 2 draws its lineage from unrivalled pedigree; its smaller forerunner ‘MACE 1’ collected the prize for “Best Use of Autonomy” at the high profile MOD Grand Challenge – a competition held at Cope Hill down on Salisbury Plain with the goal of finding new technology to support ground troops in urban areas. MACE 2 draws on this proven autonomous technology and augments it with a new ‘tele-op’ control option. Using tele-op control, MACE 2 can be driven remotely by a mission commander via a powerful non line-of-sight communications with a 5KM range. The mission commander maintains situational awareness through a pan & tilt camera. MIRA’s tele-op control solutions have interoperability designed-in from the outset.

When the mission dictates a more hands-off control strategy, the ‘task and forget’ nature of fully autonomous control has distinct benefits; empowering a single mission commander to control multiple platforms. In autonomous mode MACE 2 senses its surroundings by fusing the advantages of binocular vision and radar. On-board obstacle avoidance & route re-planning algorithms allow MACE 2 to skilfully negotiate its way through the designated area.

The autonomous control software has two modes to provide tasking flexibility. Waypoint mode allows mission commanders to specify key points of interest that MACE 2 must, wherever practically possible, visit or scan as part of the mission. These waypoints could have been flagged as points of interest through satellite of loitering drone intel. The alternative ‘zonal control’ mode is ideal for patrol duty, or for scanning/clearing defined areas of IEDs.

When the fully autonomous UGV is bristling with IED detection sensors, MACE 2 is able to detect multiple lethal threats and communicate a prioritised and graded report delivered through a high-speed encrypted data link to mission commanders. In this role, MACE 2 patrols the designated area visiting, wherever practically possible, key waypoints along its journey as it sweeps for threats. It then either reports back to base, or continues on further missions as directed by the mission commander