TARDEC has reportedly said it is going to support the Southeastern Michigan Automotive-Robotics Initiative as the organization feels that Michigan has the people, the expertise and the potential to help cater to the robotic requirements of the Department of Defense.

 

Headquartered at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Mich., TARDEC, part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, is the country’s laboratory for advanced military automotive technology. It develops and integrates the right technology solutions to improve the effectiveness of the current force and realize the superior capability of the future force in order to facilitate Army transformation.

 

According to officials, the Great Lakes Chapter of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International will host an Automotive-Robotics Cluster Initiative Partnership Workshop on July 28-29 that will seek to bring together existing automotive infrastructure with the robotics needs of the DOD.

 

The goal of the event is to work on the framework put forth by the DOD’s Mentor Protégé Robotics Initiative and bring out ideas to help Michigan automotive-based corporations to grow the emerging robotics cluster in the state.

 

The DOD Mentor-Protégé Program assists small businesses to successfully compete for contracts by partnering with large companies under individual, project-based agreements.

 

Among the partners involved in this effort is the U.S. Small Business Administration, which during the event will organize a resource center that will enlighten companies about the various resources available through the SBA, DOD, and state and regional economic development authorities.

 

The conference will be hosted by the Great Lakes Chapter of AUVS with U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research and Development Center Joint Center for Robotics, National Automotive Center, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the DOD’s Office of Small Business programs, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and Automation Alley at Oakland University’s Oakland Center.

 

TARDEC along with Altair recently emphasized the need for increased modeling and simulation in the development of military ground vehicles.