Indigenous Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Indian Army

The Army could soon have its first Unmanned Ground Vehicle!The first prototype of Unmanned Ground Vehicle on BMP-II vehicle platform has been developed by the Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi, Chennai. The prototype consists of a drive-by-wire (DBW) system which includes electro-mechanical actuators and drives for the driver interfaces such as acceleration, brake, gear shifting, steering, clutch, parking brake, etc. The DBW system is controlled by a PXI-based controller in the remote vehicle and receives commands on a wireless LAN from a lab view-based GUI located in the base station.

The position feedbacks from the encoders on the steering actuators and from limit switches on the gear shift levers are obtained at the base station for accurate control. The clutching and gear shifting operations have been combined in the GUI, rendering the advantages of an automatic transmission to the conventional powerpack. Remote switching on the engine is also built in the controller. The unmanned BMP was demonstrated to Dr A Sivathanu Pillai, Distinguished Scientist on 25 May 2009. The signals from the engine, like engine RPM, vehicle speed, etc are acquired by a data acquisition card and displayed in the GUI. The electro-mechanical actuators for the BMP-II have been designed in such a way that the driver’s accessibilityto all the control pedals is not affected. The reverse effect on the actuators due to the manual override was considered during the design and selection of electro-mechanical actuators.

Text & Photo: DRDO

9 thoughts on “Indigenous Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Indian Army”

  1. It is 'unmanned' therefore soldiers will sit on top like monkeys?

    On a serious note, the bottom design is terrible, not at all designed to deflect blasts from mines and IEDs.

  2. Nice concept, looks like India is also stepping up their efforts to get into the Unmanned Systems Bandwagon. Anon2 Unmanned systems are used generally in conditions where normal soldiers have a risk of losing their lives. One possible example could be for NBC operation or Ordinance Disposal but not restricted to these two scenarios. Anon3 good observation 🙂 but I guess they are just trying to find out how good a ride it could be, It appears that the chassis belongs to a BMP-2 (could also be a BMP-1). Im sure history has shown us that IFVs are quiet capable of withstanding most mines and IEDs especially in the case of a trial tested design like the BMP-2 which has fought many wars in the last 30 years.

  3. Minelaying, and mine clearance are two applications that come to mind..

    And i think ,people who think we have enough "manpower", should be sent to clear mines first…

  4. Maybe the scientist and money could have been used to speed up other immediate needed programs.?It is not wise to stretch resources from an underfunded organisation.

  5. Any new thing (futuristic) is always criticised, Its good to invest in future dont you think so?

    why to restric it to just clear mines? why it should not fight usa already inducted unmanned fighting machines

  6. unmanned? why there are 4 troops sitting on top of it!…oh, so they must be passengers.

    If you ask me, unmanned system for a AIFV/APC is not good, unmanned tech should be developed for tanks and logistics-carriers for better use.

    an unmanned AIFV/personnel carrier wouldn't be that relevent. when it DOES carry people, so what big difference would being driver-less make? one more guy, that's it. an unmanned stealth tank would be more relevent and useful. anyway hats-off to DRDO guys for developing this tech.

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