(NDIA #3380) Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference & Exhibition

The ability of robots to save lives has secured a path for ground robotics’ future alongside the Warfighter. Ground robotics, rapidly adopted during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, has enabled the U.S. and its allies to be more effective, efficient, and protected in a range of different missions, such as Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Combat Engineering, and Reconnaissance. With a waning defense budget, uncertainty of future budgets, and a leaner military force, an opportunity presents itself for new, efficient and effective technologies, to continue to extend and complement the Warfighter’s capabilities. It’s more important than ever to bring together industry leaders and service-users, on one stage, in order to explore these emerging trends and determine, “What does the Next Era of Ground Robotics Hold?”

The purpose of the 2013 Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference & Exhibition is to provide a forum for Industry and Government to have an honest dialogue for identifying the technologies that will be able to meet the future needs of the Warfighter. Topics of discussion include:

- Where can ground robots become a force multiplier?
- How will open architecture grow in the industrial base?
- How do we fuse currently disparate markets?
- What is the ground robotics strategy of each Service moving forward?

In conjunction with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise, NDIA has put together a conference that will feature distinguished speakers and panels of subject matter experts to engage in point-counterpoint debates to answer the question of “What Does the Next Era of Ground Robotics Hold?”

Point/Counter-Point Topics Include (Subject to Change):

• Where can robots become a force multiplier?
• How will open architecture grow the industrial base?
• How can acquisition reform be achieved?
• What is the ground robotics value proposition?
• How do we gain momentum for ground robotics?
• How do we fuse currently disparate markets?
• What are the ethical barriers for ground robotics?
• What is the strategy for each service?
• Where are the future opportunities?
• What are the roadblocks for fielding autonomous systems?
• Warfighter panel