Army Partnership Could See Creation of Exoskeletons, New Systems
By Andrew Faught.
A new project involving the Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) will help ensure US Army readiness and enhance its capabilities in the increasingly high-tech world of military conflict.
In partnership with Vanderbilt University, TCE faculty and graduate-level researchers are taking part in the two-year Army Futures Command Catalyst and Pathfinder Program, which is consulting with Fort Campbell soldiers in hopes of developing new “soldier-driven” technologies to improve battlefield survivability and mission effectiveness.
“The biggest thing is accelerating how quickly technology is entering the battlefield, and that includes commercial technologies, such as drones,” says Bruce LaMattina, the son of a World War II Army veteran, and associate vice chancellor for strategic research initiatives. “We are more digital today than ever before, so we have to bring these next-generation technologies to the forefront quicker.”
The effort, which kicked off last year with $15 million in seed funding, will use artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, medical technology, and battery and energy storage innovations to potentially develop everything from protective exoskeletons to new weapons systems.
“This project is a tremendous opportunity for us to make a positive impact since the work is all soldier-derived, which is to say the projects being developed are all meant to directly address challenges voiced by soldiers in the field,” said TCE Dean Matthew Mench, the Wayne T. Davis Dean’s Chair in the college. “We are still in the development phase for specific projects involving the University of Tennessee, but the first areas under consideration are research related to identification of early warning signs of suicide, lightweight durable materials for rapid field deployment, and unique approaches to accelerated education in foreign languages.”
Mench also said that the universities are working with a partner company, the Civil-Military Innovation Institute (CMI2), to help identify soldier-inspired areas of potential research and development. CMI2 works directly with soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell and translates their needs into potential research program areas that span engineering, health sciences, linguistics, or any other discipline.
Identifying challenges in the field before assembling the appropriate team from UT and Vanderbilt is something Mench said makes the project unique, adding that the program will begin to build out after they get initial feedback from the Army explaining their needs.
CMI2 calls such collaborations “innovation in the dirt,” and a “frontline approach to fostering miliary modernization.” It was created specifically to spur innovation and bring research breakthroughs to the defense community.
When it established the Pathfinder program, the Army said it would help rapidly modernize the capabilities of its soldiers through innovations made on academic campuses, like those in TCE, addressing “mission-critical” capability gaps in materials, machinery, and equipment. The college, which has commercialized technology for private industry, will be able to bring that experience to bear on its work with the Army to help fill those gaps.
Through the project, student researchers should be able to gain the kind of experience that could ultimately lead them to work with the US Department of Defense, adding a workforce development component to the initiative.
Additionally, TCE programs in mechanical, biomedical, and civil engineering, as well as a tradition of fostering entrepreneurship, are expected to lead to start-up businesses and corporate partnerships that will grow the Tennessee economy.
“The soldiers realize what’s needed, and what’s relevant and practical, and they bring us that, and then we bring the cutting-edge science to the table,” said LaMattina, who is the conduit between the university and the Army on the project. “We have the ability to prototype and build things, and over the last several years we’ve really built our capacity for manufacturing, and the science for manufacturing. The Pathfinder program is going to help us be able to try different concepts, built them in house, and accelerate the innovation path.”
Some innovations can go from the lab to soldiers in two years, while more advanced technology, such as weapons systems, can take from five to 10 years.
While improving outcomes for the entire Army is the goal of the overall project—in addition to the Vanderbilt-UT one there are 11 other such partnerships throughout the US—the fact that the teams will work to provide breakthroughs to soldiers at Fort Campbell brings the impact closer to home.
Home to the 101st Airborne Division and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Fort Campbell is spread across the Tennessee-Kentucky border roughly an hour north of Nashville. Technologies and information generated by the research done through TCE will first be tried by soldiers stationed there, before being implemented around the globe.
The project is initially scheduled to run into 2023, but it could be extended at the congressional level beyond that term.