THE ROBOTIC SITE SHUTTLE - A FULLY AUTONOMOUS SOLUTION

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has developed a robotic site shuttle for use in structured areas, such as commercial railroad yards, port operations and storage/distribution industries. The purpose of the site shuttle is to provide an autonomous taxi service for personnel needing to move to various locations around the facilities. Many rail yards, ports and storage area are very large, so “taxi” transportation is vital to maintain efficiency and safety. The shuttle vehicles operate in complete autonomy: they have no steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedal. Personnel using the vehicles have only emergency stop buttons in the front and rear of the vehicles. Once implemented, the robotic shuttles will considerably reduce the costs of operation for the company. This need is consistent throughout the rail, port and storage/distribution industries, as all need to move personnel around their yards.