Less-Lethal Payloads for Robotic and Automated Response Systems

This article reviews the various problems encountered in controlling less-lethal weapon payloads on unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and provides an overview of ongoing efforts to address those challenges. Examples of near-term field-ready candidates (automated and robotic) include the networked remotely operated weapon system (NROWS) and the mobile detection assessment response system (MDARS). A brief treatment of future capabilities is presented at the end. Keywords: robotics; nonlethal systems; less-lethal systems; target acquisition; target tracking; target discrimination; human–robot interaction; computer vision