Since ARTI is part of the research consortium of the RoboNav project, we were invited to participate in the first Austrian Alpine Robot Trial (AART), which took place at the Military Testing Ground Seetaler Alpe in Carinthia from the 19th to 22nd July 2021. This event was organized by the Federal Ministry of Defense, the Armaments and Defence Technology Agency, and the Institute of Software Technology from the Graz University of Technology. During the AART, the participants had the opportunity to test and promote their autonomous robotic systems in all kinds of alpine terrain and gain experience with autonomous vehicles in off-road situations and unstructured environments.
ARTI was represented by Konstantin and Raphael, who took the opportunity and got in touch with partners from the RoboNav project and other industrial or scientific stakeholders. They observed exciting testing scenarios of autonomous ground-based vehicles in a professional, application-specific, and secured training environment, with a particular focus on software, software integration, and self-location capabilities. Besides the ” tough” testing part, there was also the opportunity to get to know the other participants of the AART in a relaxed atmosphere. A special guest, namely Defence Minister Claudia Tanner, was also welcomed as a guest at this innovative event. Konstantin and Raphael had a great time at the AART, returned packed with many new experiences in the field of outdoor robotic technology, and are already looking forward to a repeat next year.
The media was also curious about this extraordinary technology event, and the ORF Steiermark brought a story about it. The Austrian Armed Forces released the following Video, where ARTI is, if not with a name, but indirectly mentioned as an innovative software Start-up:
The RoboNav project, short for “Off-road navigation for robotic platforms,” is an FFG funded research project aiming to develop an integrated navigation system for robots for remote and challenging environments. In this project, two main research challenges are tackled. First, the aim is to use earth observation data to obtain routing data and simplify the robot’s deployment in new regions without prior mapping efforts. Secondly, the expertise from GeoScience and Robotics are interlinked, so the outcome is an integrated navigation concept for robots in challenging environments. ARTI is part of a prominent research consortium next to players like the Graz University of Technology – Institute for Software Technology, the Disaster Competence Network Austria, Pentamap mapping service OG and the Federal Ministry of Defense.
