US Army holds Exoskeleton/Physical Augmentation meeting

An Exoskeleton/Physical Augmentation Requirements meetingwas held at the Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCOE) at U.S. Army Fort Benning,Georgia, on January 15, 2019. Under direction and guidance from Brig. Gen.David M. Hodne, the Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team Lead and Commandantof MCOE, David Audet, and Andrea Taylor of the Combat Capabilities DevelopmentCommand-Soldier Center (CCDC-Soldier Center), as well as representatives fromthe Army Futures Command/Robotics Requirements Division (AFC/RRD), ArmyCapabilities Integration Center, PEO Soldier, TRADOC CapabilityManager-Robotics and Autonomous Systems (TCM-RAS), and other community memberscame together for an initial meeting focused on Exoskeleton/PhysicalAugmentation capability requirements.

The Physical Augmentation Working Group (PAWG) was held in response to the quickly expanding role exoskeletons are playing in the commercial, industrial and medical markets and the U.S. Army's interest in exploring the capability for improving soldier lethality, performance and mission readiness. The directives are consistent with Soldier Lethality goals and objectives. The meeting was a follow-up to actions outlined after the 4QFY18 Robotics Autonomous Systems Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) ­– the road map for autonomous robotic systems and foundation for the much-anticipated Exoskeleton ICD.

RRD's Deputy Director, Ted Maciuba, opened the workingsession by expressing his views and excitement about the CCDC-Soldier Center'sExoskeleton effort and what it's trying to accomplish for soldiers. The groupengaged in an extensive background discussion about "why are wehere," citing primarily historical data on past and present efforts toaddress solution sets to the soldier's load gap. Medical data was alsopresented.

Since the Chief of Staff of the Army placed exoskeletons asone of the potential materiel solutions to improve soldier lethality, the PAWGhas been working closely with the CCDC-Soldier Center, and the community atlarge, to examine existing solutions in the context of what users need via"User Touch Point" events.

The CCDC-Soldier Center supports the Soldier Lethality-CrossFunctional Team (SL-CFT) priorities. The center's science and engineeringexpertise are combined with collaborations with industry, DOD and academia toadvance soldier and squad performance optimization, readiness and lethality – aswell as synthetic training environments.

The draft Capability Development Document, or CDD, willcapture common requirements for Exoskeleton/Physical Augmentation capability.This document will then be followed by annexes that will address specific areasof focus for the capability (i.e., movement & maneuver, support &sustainment, explosive ordnance disposal, and so on). Focus areas will bedetermined by users, the expected path for the on-going "User TouchPoint" activities spearheaded by the CCDC-Soldier Center.

The CCDC-Soldier Center Exoskeleton effort is focused onvetting, demonstrating and transitioning high-technology readiness levelexoskeleton technologies to improve soldier lethality and mission readiness andreduce the impact of physical loads on soldiers performing difficult tasks.MCOE and PEO Soldier are key partners in the process of gathering data that isrelevant to developing the CDD, as well as establishing the roadmap for PEOSoldier's potential next steps, should a technology be selected to moveforward.

Raul Esteras-Palos, TCM-RAS, presented a review ofprogress-to-date, with a discussion on potential key performance criteria andpotential key system attributes. David Vazquez, an MCOE representative, willwork with the Army exoskeleton actions community to finalize a draft framework.It is anticipated to be completed by May 2019.

The CCDC-Soldier Center will provide power profile datarelated to the current systems of interest and anthropometric sizing tariffs.Other data in-process includes operational evaluation criteria, validation ofperformance metrics, and mission readiness criteria utilizing informationprovided from medical injury/other databases. The CCDC-Soldier Centeranticipates a full program update and review to include findings from theon-going "User Touch Point" activities with the 10th MountainDivision, Fort Drum, New York.