Army R.E.D. Drone With Arms Wins Innovation Title

At the U.S. Army’s inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition, one team showed up with something straight out of a robotics lab fever dream. A drone. With arms. That actually grabs things.

And it won.

Soldiers from the 28th Infantry Division took first place in the innovation category at the Army’s first Best Drone Warfighter Competition, held Feb. 17 to 19 at the Huntsville Test Range in Huntsville.

Their creation, called Project R.E.D. or Recovery Exploitation Drone, does something simple but wildly practical. It hunts down crashed drones and physically brings them home.

Yes, this drone literally has arms.

Project R.E.D. Gives Drones a Grip

The team built a system that combines AI enabled object recognition with a robotic, 3D printed carbon fiber arm ending in a claw. Once the onboard software identifies a downed drone, friendly or enemy, the flying robot swoops in, grabs it, and carries it back for intelligence exploitation or repair.

Picture a battlefield Roomba that went to engineering school and joined special forces.

The innovation team included 1st Lt. Ryan Giallonardo, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Reed, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nathan Shea and Sgt. 1st Class Brent Wehr. Reed, who commands the Unmanned Aircraft System Training and Innovation Facility at Fort Indiantown Gap, said the competition was intense.

The first phase resembled a military version of Shark Tank, with teams pitching their ideas.

The second phase required a live demo. No pressure, just your flying robot arm performing in front of Army judges.

According to Reed, the judges were impressed, especially with the potential for further development alongside the Army Research Laboratory. The prize included not only a plaque but also a drone prototype from ARL and a one year research and development agreement to continue refining the concept.

In other words, the Army liked the robot arm enough to fund it.

A Competition Built for Drone Athletes

The event brought together active duty, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers to compete in three categories: Best Operator, Best Tactical Squad and Best Innovation.

The tactical squad event, sometimes called the hunter killer competition, started with a physical challenge. Soldiers dragged weighted medical litters, pressed water cans overhead and carried sandbags before moving 1,000 meters with full gear. Only then did they deploy their hunter drone to identify targets, send a SALUTE report, and engage with a killer drone.

It is part CrossFit, part e-sports, part battlefield simulation.

While the 28th Infantry Division did not win the operator or tactical squad categories, it was the only Army National Guard unit to compete in all three events. That alone signals how seriously the Pennsylvania Guard is investing in drone capability.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll attended the awards ceremony and presented plaques to the winners.

DroneXL’s Take

Battlefields are filling with small unmanned aircraft. Some crash. Some get shot down. Some simply fail. Each one can contain valuable sensors, data, software or insight into enemy tactics.

Traditionally, recovering them means sending a human into a potentially dangerous area.

Project R.E.D. flips that equation. Instead of risking a soldier, you send in a flying robot with a carbon fiber claw.

It is a small step toward something bigger. Drones that do more than observe or strike. Drones that manipulate, retrieve and interact with the physical world.

The image of a quadcopter reaching down and plucking another drone off the ground might sound like science fiction. But in Huntsville this month, it was enough to win the Army’s top innovation prize.

The era of drones with arms has officially begun. And somewhere in a lab, someone is probably already designing elbows.

Photo credit: Pennsylvania National Guard