South Korea develops robot for autonomous tunnel exploration

SEOUL — South Korea’s arms development agency has completed its application research on robotic technology for autonomous tunnel exploration.

The Agency for Defense Development announced June 21 that research for the Autonomous Tunnel Exploration Robot was conducted over the past three years in collaboration with the Ground Vehicle System Center, which is part of the U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command.

“Both institutions from South Korea and the United States have applied common middleware, interface, and data formats in this research to help establish joint robot-based operational capabilities,” the agency said in a news release, noting that both sides developed their own robot systems and related software.

Through its own research and development, the agency designed and produced a modular robot in cooperation with Hanwha Defense, a local defense contractor. The robot can explore underground tunnels without topographic information, detecting risks and generating a 3D map of the exploration area, according to the agency. It can also receive modifications to perform different missions, and it is equipped with artificial intelligence-based software for recognition, judgement and exploration functions.

In addition, a single operator can control the robot remotely with a mobile phone or tablet, allowing the user to wield multiple systems at once.

“Even in caves and underground facilities where GPS signals cannot be received, a robot with ATE [autonomous tunnel exploration] technology is able to conduct autonomous driving and explore areas without prior information,” the agency said.

During the application research, a prototype robot succeeded in exploring a 1.5-kilometer (0.9-mile) cave by recognizing various types of dangerous objects, detecting contaminated areas and creating a high-resolution 3D map, it added.

The agency plans to use the technology for systems development over the next decade. On its website , the agency describes “future battlefields” where the platform would carry out reconnaissance missions to caves and hazardous facilities, instead of a human doing so.

South Korea and North Korea technically remain at war since the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty. In the 1970s, four underground tunnels verified as North Korean networks were found along the inter-Korean border, without a new find since.

“Once deployed in the field, the ATE robot will conduct missions to secure the safety of combatants during underground operations and urban warfare and increase operational efficiency to an extent,” an agency spokesman said. “In the private sector, the robot can be deployed to places difficult to access, such as disaster sites and nuclear power plant facilities.”

Brian Kim was a South Korea correspondent for Defense News.

首尔——韩国武器开发机构已完成对用于自主隧道勘探的机器人技术的应用研究。

美国国防发展局于 6 月 21 日宣布，过去三年中，该局与美国陆军作战能力发展司令部下属的地面车辆系统中心合作，开展了自主隧道探测机器人的研究。

该机构在一份新闻稿中表示：“韩国和美国的机构在这项研究中应用了通用的中间件、接口和数据格式，以帮助建立基于机器人的联合作战能力。”新闻稿还指出，双方都开发了自己的机器人系统和相关软件。

该机构通过自主研发，与韩国本土国防承包商韩华防务公司合作，设计并生产了一款模块化机器人。据该机构介绍，这款机器人无需地形信息即可探索地下隧道，检测风险并生成探索区域的三维地图。它还可以进行改装以执行不同的任务，并配备了基于人工智能的软件，用于识别、判断和探索等功能。

此外，单个操作员可以使用手机或平板电脑远程控制机器人，使用户能够同时操控多个系统。

该机构表示：“即使在无法接收 GPS 信号的洞穴和地下设施中，配备 ATE（自主隧道勘探）技术的机器人也能进行自主驾驶，并在没有事先信息的情况下探索区域。”

该公司补充说，在应用研究过程中，原型机器人成功探索了一个 1.5 公里（0.9 英里）长的洞穴，能够识别各种类型的危险物体，检测污染区域，并创建高分辨率 3D 地图。

该机构计划在未来十年内将这项技术用于系统开发。在其网站上，该机构描述了“未来战场”，届时该平台将代替人类执行前往洞穴和危险设施的侦察任务。

从技术上讲，韩国和朝鲜仍处于战争状态，因为1950年至1953年的朝鲜战争以停战协定而非和平条约结束。20世纪70年代，在朝韩边境发现了四条被证实为朝鲜的地下隧道，此后未再发现新的隧道。

“ATE机器人一旦部署到战场，将执行保障地下作战和城市作战中战斗人员安全的任务，并在一定程度上提高作战效率，”该机构发言人表示。“在私营部门，该机器人可以部署到难以进入的地方，例如灾难现场和核电站设施。”

Brian Kim曾是《防务新闻》驻韩国记者。