Out of This World

Video by Jeff Chao, Timothy Reeves, Gary Haygood, Desiree Kapler

Co3MaNDR

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center

July 18, 2024 | 3:40

Leveraging the unique robotic capabilities and facilities at the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, part of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, engineers are working on a basic research project aimed at lightening Soldier loads and reducing the amount of personnel and machinery needed for down-range missions. The project, which goes by the acronym Co3MaNDR, uses a series of cable-driven robots that work together to reduce the lifting burden on front line military personnel, ultimately allowing distributed robotic systems to conduct complex military and maintenance efforts under the control of a single operator. Using a series of modules mounted on robotic platforms, Soldiers could potentially handle heavier equipment more easily, endure repetitive lifting tasks longer, or even coordinate heavy equipment near front lines from a remote location. To learn more about the mission and development of Co3MaNDR, watch this video.