The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's annual expo is something like the Detroit Auto Show for drones (though the industry would really rather you not call them "drones.") All the serious players large and small are present, and every one of them has its latest and greatest hardware polished and on display. But to think of what's happening at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. as simply a "drone show" is to miss what's really happening in the unmanned systems space.

    The remotely piloted unmanned aerial systems (UAS) that have become associated with the word "drone" via America's shadow wars in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia are relatively dumb machines next to the emerging class of smarter, more effective, more widely applicable -- and yes, in some cases more deadly -- robotic systems crowding the exhibit hall floor.

    If anything sets this year's AUVSI expo apart from years past, it's autonomy. The systems on display here do more flying, diving, driving, piloting, orbiting, loitering, and processing all by themselves than any generation of robotic systems before them. The hardware is now tried, tested, and dependable.

    Consistent with its defense-centric past, most of the more significant developments at AUVSI were military-related, but applications for these technologies reach far beyond the battlefield. What follows is a short highlight reel of the concepts, newsworthy developments, and robotic tech coming out of America's biggest "drone show."

    Just don't tell anyone we called it that.

    国际无人机系统协会的年度展会（AUVSI）就好比是无人机行业的底特律车展（不过这个行业并不喜欢“无人机”或“遥控飞机”这个词），所有认真从事无人机研发的厂商无论大小，悉数带着最好最新的硬件产品前来参展。不过如果有人认为这场在华盛顿Walter E会展中心举办的展会只是一场遥控飞机的展览秀，那就说明他根本不了解无人系统领域的发展现状。

    一说到遥控式的无人驾驶航空系统（UAS），人们就会联想到美军在巴基斯坦、也门、索马里等地的“影子战争”中使用过的无人机。与本次展会展出的一系列更智能、更高效、更全能甚至杀伤力更强的机器人系统相比，那些无人机也只能相形见绌，成了老爷机。

    如果说今年的AUVSI展会与往年相比有什么不同，那就是参展系统的自动性大大提高了。与前一代的机器人系统相比，本次参展的各款产品的飞行、航行、潜行、巡航、盘旋等机动更强，而且更重要的是这些动作可以完全由系统自动进行。而且这些硬件都经过了严格的测试，非常可靠。

    这届展会仍然以国防技术为中心，大多数参展的设备都与军事用途有关，不过，这些技术的应用前景远远不止局限于战场。以下谨为大家奉上本次展会的一些精彩片断以及最新的机器人科技。

    不过，千万不要告诉别人我们把它叫做“遥控飞机展”。

航空环境公司的长续航无人机Puma

    小型无人机如果用于民用用途，一般都是用来检测输电线、农田或基础设施的情况。但小型无人机的一个主要缺限就是其续航能力不足。小型固定翼无人机的电量通常只够飞行一两个小时。

    从这个角度上看，加州门罗维亚市的航空环境公司（AeroVironment）研发的固定翼无人机Puma AE创下的9小时11分钟的飞行纪录可谓意义重大。Puma无人机只有13磅重，让它起飞也非常简单，操作者只要把它举起来，像抛足球一样把它抛出去就行了。这架无人机最近还通过了美国联邦航空管理局（the Federal Aviation Administration）的商业飞行测试，而这也是第一次针对此类小型无人机的商业飞行测试。现在Puma已经获准在北极地区进行商业飞行，再过几年，等解决了美国航空规定方面的限制后，它也将可以在美国境内进行商业飞行。

    Puma AE无人机利用太阳能电池技术提高了续航时间。虽然目前该机型仍处于试验阶段，但是明年它应该就会投入量产。届时，在北极工作的商业公司和科研团体就将拥有一款物美价廉、能长时间航行的航空成像设备了。

西科尔斯基公司的Matrix自动化直升机

    上周二，知名直升机制造商西科尔斯基公司（Sikorsky）公布了又一款重磅产品——一款经过数年努力研发出的自动化直升机。该公司高管表示，Matrix项目并不只是要制造一款能根据程序自动飞机的无人直升机。这个机型既允许操作人员遥控操作，另外如果机内有飞行人员的话，他可以从事其它与飞行有关的任务，而一般不需要较高水平的驾驶任务可以交给直升机自动完成。

    根据Matrix项目的未来愿景，将来该机型的飞行员更多扮演的是一个任务管理者的角色。他既可以在地面、也可以在直升机内执行任务。

The Navy's unmanned helicopter

    When the Navy launched and landed its experimental X-47B unmanned jet aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George H.W. Bush earlier this summer, it was widely referred to as the Navy's first real "drone." But the Navy has actually been flying an unmanned helicopter known as the MQ-8B Fire Scout for years now. Northrop Grumman (NOC, Fortune 500), maker of the Fire Scout, announced at last week's AUVSI show that a full 5,000 of those hours were logged in the Afghanistan theater of operations.

    But the more interesting news regarding Fire Scout came from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California's Mojave Desert. In a development that will surely make the anti-drone crowd squirm, the Navy announced that a Fire Scout armed with a guided rocket munition known as the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System had completed 12 firings of the projectile, with 11 of those successfully hitting within the desired target radius. The Navy has been talking about integrating the APKWS (which is essentially a Vietnam-era legacy "dumb" rocket upgraded with a precision guidance module, making it quite smart) on Fire Scout for more than a year. Now we know they've done so, and it's working.

ReconRobotics' SkyScout

    Minnesota-based ReconRobotics made its name in the defense world through its "Throwbot" products, a line of beer-can-sized wheeled robots that police or military personnel can hurl over a wall, through a window, or anywhere else they're needed. Tiny cameras beam video back to the robots' handheld controllers. At AUVSI 2013, the company debuted its Recon SkyScout, a tethered quadrotor that executes a limited mission profile extremely simply and well.

    The problem with small UAS, as mentioned previously, is largely one of endurance. SkyScout overcomes this by simply tethering to the ground via a long, thin wire that connects the aircraft in the sky to a power source on the ground. It can stay overhead indefinitely, but tethered aircraft are limited in their lateral movement. But for many law enforcement and military missions, operators on the ground need persistent overhead situational awareness -- a constant view from overhead. Whether surveilling an ongoing hostage situation or augmenting forward operating base security, SkyScout is designed to fly up to 100 feet above the operator and then stay there, providing 360 degrees of birds-eye view.

    It might sound simplistic next some of the more sophisticated robots on display at AUVSI, but the defense and law enforcement communities know that reliability and simplicity trump complexity in most dangerous situations. Embassy security personnel from both the U.S. and the U.K. were spotted at Recon's AUVSI booth, eyebrows raised.

ReconRobotics的SkyScout无人机

    明尼苏达州的ReconRobotics公司之所以在军火界享有盛名，主要是因为它生产的物美价廉的抛式机器人产品。这种机器人只有一个啤酒罐大小，可由警察或军队人员隔着墙或窗户扔进他们想要进入的地方。抛式机器人身上的小型摄像机可以把影像传输到操作人员的手持式控制器里。今年的AUVSI展会上，这家公司推出了一种导线式的四旋翼无人直升机SkyScout，它可以非常简单有效地执行一些有限的任务。

    如前文所述，续航时间一直是困扰小型无人机的一个大问题。SkyScout用了一个土办法攻克了这个问题——通过一根长长的电线，把这架无人机与地面上的电源连起来。它几乎可以无限地旋停在我们头顶，但缺点就是它的横向移动能力有限。但对于很多执法任务和军事任务来说，地面操作人员需要一个持续的“制高点”来提供居高临下的视野，比如持续观察人质的情况，或是加强对前沿阵地的警戒。SkyScout的最高飞行高度是100英尺（约30米），然后便可旋停在那里，提供360度的鸟瞰视野。

    和今年AUVSI展会上的其它先进无人机系统相比，它的技术似乎非常简单。但是军队和执法部门都知道，在大多数危险的环境下，简单可靠才是王道。因此美国和英国的使馆安保人员都在Recon公司的展台前驻足，似乎对这款产品怦然心动。

The next generation of Navy combat drones

    The Navy made a media splash this summer when, alongside private-sector partner Northrop Grumman, it launched and recovered the first autonomous combat jet from the deck of an aircraft carrier. But the X-47B, as the experimental aircraft is known, will conclude test flights sometime next year. Now, with the baseline technology in place, the real competition to build the Navy's carrier- and combat-capable UAS fleet of the future gets underway in earnest.

    Though Northrop Grumman will remain in that race with some variant of the X-47B, other contenders are jumping into the competition. Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) plans to update one of its concept UAS. General Atomics (maker of the Reaper and Predator UAS currently deployed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere) plans to put forward a design, and at AUVSILockheed Martin (LMT, Fortune 500) gave attendees their most detailed look yet at its emerging concept UAS (pictured above). The Navy is about to kick off a flurry of research into autonomous flight capability (with a lucrative production contract as incentive), making the upcoming Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program a space to keep an eye on.

下一代海军无人战斗机

    今年夏天，美国海军与私人公司诺斯罗普格鲁曼公司携手推出了X－47B无人战斗机，并成功在航母甲板上进行了起降试验，引起举世震动。这款无人机将于明年结束试飞阶段。随着基础技术已经到位，为美国海军打造能部署在航母舰队上的无人战斗机部队的竞争已经正式开始。

    诺斯罗普格鲁曼公司显然会凭借X-47B的某些型号暂时领先，但是其它竞争者也已经加入了这场竞赛。比如波音公司（Boeing ）就计划对现有一款无人机的概念机进行升级。通用原子公司（General Atomics，该公司生产的“收割者”和“捕食者”无人机已经部署在阿富汗、巴基斯坦、也门等地）也计划推出自己的设计。洛克希德马丁公司（AUVSILockheed Martin）也在今年的AUVSI展会上向观众展示了自家无人机的概念机的形象（上图）。美国海军也将对自动飞行技术进行大量研究（并且抛出一笔利润丰厚的生产合同作为激励）。因此，能够在航母上部署的无人侦察机和战斗机项目未来无疑是一个值得继续关注的领域。

DARPA's flying car now hauls cargo

    A few years ago, Pentagon blue-sky research arm DARPA put out a call for proposals for nothing short of a flying ca r-- specifically a Humvee-like troop carrier that could also take off and land vertically, hauling four soldiers and their gear through the air at speed. The idea was as far-fetched as it sounds, but Lockheed Martin came forward with a design for a vehicle packing two massive ducted fans on top that was plausible enough to pass two DARPA design reviews.

    In the last year, DARPA has lost interest in its flying car. But it hasn't abandoned the program altogether, instead asking Lockheed engineers to move forward with the design of the ducted fan lift system that would've provided lift to its flying Humvee design. The twist: DARPA now wants the lift system to be adaptable to a variety of different payloads.

    What DARPA ultimately envisions is an autonomous flying lift system that could carry intelligence sensor packages or pick up and deliver cargo pallets or even vehicles (but without people in them) between ships or military bases or to troops in the field. Such a transport system could even work as an autonomous, unmanned ambulance transport, dropping into combat zones to collect wounded soldiers and fly them back to safety without putting manned Medevac units at risk. Transformer, as the concept is known, is still just a concept. But Lockheed has been granted a contract to develop a prototype capable of lifting 3,000 pounds for demonstration by 2015.

DARPA的飞行运输战车

    几年前，五角大楼的高级研究计划局（DARPA）公开征集一种飞行汽车的设计方案，同时特别指出美军需要的是一种像悍马越野车一样的运兵车，而且要能够垂直起飞和降落，可以运载四名士兵及其装备高速航行。这个概念听起来似乎太牵强了，但是洛克希德马丁公司却真的给出了这样一份设计方案。它在车子的顶部安了两个硕大无比的螺旋桨，这种听起来颇为合理的方案也通过了DARPA的两轮设计审查。

    去年，DARPA放弃了对飞行汽车的兴趣，但并没有完全抛弃这个计划，只是要求洛克希德马丁的工程师继续改进螺旋桨系统的设计，因为DARPA现在希望这套系统能够适应一系列不同的负载。

    DARPA最终希望看到的是一套多功能的直升机式的飞行系统。它可以搭载一套情报传感器，或是在军舰、军事基地或部队之间吊运物资（不包括人员）。这种运输系统甚至可以演变成一种自动的、无人驾驶的“战地救护直升机”，深入战区自动将伤员运至后方，以免有人的医疗直升机遭遇被击落的风险。这个被戏称为“变形金刚”的概念现在还停留在概念阶段。但是美国军方已经给了洛克希德马丁公司一份合同，让该公司在2015年前开发一款能吊升起3000磅（约合1.36吨）货物的原型机用于验证。

QinetiQ's MAARS gets vocal

    The not-so-friendly looking robot above looks like what science fiction has long warned us about. But QinetiQ's Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System (MAARS) doesn't have to be as menacing as it looks. "It's an armed way of responding to something without necessarily taking armed action," says QinetiQ CEO Dr. J.D. Crouch. "It doesn't have to defend itself, whereas humans have to defend themselves."

    In that sense, Crouch describes MAARS as a "force de-escalator." It can be configured to impart lethal force, but MAARS is also designed to carry all kinds of less-lethal projectiles and non-lethal countermeasures like laser dazzlers, as well as day- and night-vision cameras and acoustic sensors to enhance situational awareness. The U.S. armed forces have taken delivery of a small number of the systems to develop tactics and concepts of operations around the technology. That is, MAARS isn't forward deployed -- that we know of.

    The MAARS system has been around for a few years now, but new this year is a voice command system that allows soldiers and marines to direct the MAARS platform -- but not its weaponry -- via vocal commands, much as they would a human member of their own squad.

QinetiQ的MAARS语音战斗机器人

    上图这个全副武装、凶神恶煞的机器人看起来似乎不太友好，仿佛多年以来科幻小说一直在警告我们的情形终于成真了。但是QinetiQ开发的这套模块化高级武装机器人系统（MAARS）并不一定像它看起来那样有威胁。QinetiQ公司的CEO克劳奇博士表示：“它是用武装的方式来应对一些情形，但并不一定非要使用武力。它不需要保护自己，人类才需要保护自己。”

    从这个意义上，克劳奇把MAARS称为“武力降级者”。它既可以搭载致命武器，也可以搭载各种非致命性弹药和激光炫目器等非致命武器。另外它还可以搭载日视、夜视摄像机和声波传感器等设备，以提高对局势的认知。美军已经采购了少量这个型号的机器人，用来开发围绕该技术的战术和操作理念。也就是说，MAARS并不急着部署到前线。

    MAARS系统已经诞生好几年了，不过今年它新增了一个语音控制系统，让士兵们可以直接通过语音指挥MAARS的平台——但不包括它的武器系统。这种感觉就像班里又多了一个人类的战友。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎