ARA to Demo Autonomous Mine Vehicles at MINExpo International 2021


Las Vegas, Sept. 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) is pleased to announce its attendance at MINExpo International 2021, September 13th through 15th in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the event, ARA’s Neya Systems and Virtual Heroes divisions will highlight their innovative solutions in the mining, construction, defense, and security industries.

A leader in advanced off-road autonomy and high-level multi-robot mission planning, Neya’s full-stack autonomy includes capabilities in low-level control, perception, safeguarded teleoperation, full autonomy, and multi-agent mission planning. Neya's multi-robot mission planning system enables an operator to control and coordinate a fleet of mixed assets in complex environments, including GPS-degraded and low-latency communication scenarios. The mission planning software is vehicle-agnostic, allowing for greater interoperability between platforms.

“Off-road autonomy represents one of the most challenging scenarios for industry,” said Mike Formica, division manager of Neya Systems. “We have more than a decade of experience solving these difficult problems for the DoD and have worked in diverse applications such as automated convoys, multi-robot interaction, and perception in dirty, dusty and harsh environments.”

Using best-in-class design and game-engine technologies, Virtual Heroes’ software is modular to cope with evolving needs, flexible to support all point-of-need use cases, and compelling in its ability to create realistic environments. All Virtual Heroes software is built using its Advanced Learning Technology (ALT) platform, enabling the rapid development of new training applications in a fraction of the time and cost of other 3D interactive training companies. The ALT platform leverages Epic Game’s Unreal Engine, the world's most advanced real-time 3D creation tool for photoreal visuals and immersive experiences.

“Our goal is to create realistic, detailed training and educational solutions to improve your safety, security, and way of life,” said Randy Brown, division manager of Virtual Heroes. “With on-staff subject matter experts in serious games development and deployment, instructional design, and military operations, Virtual Heroes has the depth and breadth of knowledge to create effective training solutions.”

Together, Virtual Heroes and Neya Systems create highly detailed virtual environments, realistic environment effects, and precise vehicle models. Through their Virtual Integration and Simulation Environment (VISE) platform, plant operations can be simulated, providing operational insights without interrupting real-world operations. VISE provides a realistic and extensible platform to stress perception and sensors, as well as control both autonomous robotics and manned assets.  

“The ability to repeat large volumes of runs, and vary vehicles, environments, and obstacles, allows us to safely test new capabilities and demonstrate scenarios thousands of times before field testing,” Brown said.

Virtual Heroes and Neya Systems will demonstrate the coordination of autonomous mine vehicles at MINExpo within the Unreal VISE environment.  Visit us at Booth #1014-N to learn more.

Sponsored by the National Mining Association, MINExpo is the largest mining event in the world and features the latest mining equipment, products, services, and technologies. To register, please visit minexpo.com.

ABOUT ARA

Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) was founded in 1979, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to offer science and engineering research to solve problems of national importance. ARA delivers leading-edge products and solutions for national defense, energy, homeland security, aerospace, healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing. With over 1,500 employee-owners at locations in the U.S. and Canada, ARA offers a broad range of technical expertise in defense technologies, civil engineering, computer software and simulation, systems analysis, biomedical engineering, environmental technologies, and blast testing and measurement.

 

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