56 Significant engineering rigour has also gone into the sensor data fusion to achieve an indoor localisation precision with 5 cm maximum error. That error rate can shrink down to less than a millimetre for docking with charging stations if some aiding systems (such as the company’s own patented Lidar enhancement sticker system or an air plug) are integrated at the docking site. “We have eight ultrasonics spaced equally around the robot. Then, we have two camera systems and one Lidar, plus an industrial-grade inertial system, and the electric motors also provide part of the data for odometry – the other half comes from the Lidar,” Dehlinger counts. As demonstrated at the 2025 Paris Air Show, ROC-E’s embedded intelligence also allows it to recognise clusters of sporadically arranged objects (placing bounding boxes around them within an embedded 2D map it generates of its operating area, similar to the annotation boxes placed by machine vision systems when performing object classification) and distinguish them from walkways. That aspect of its sensor fusion and intelligence enables it to stick to the walkways and avoid intruding through exhibitors’ pavilions. Hence, it will similarly tend to avoid sections of factories, hospitals and offices not meant to be walked through (strategically reducing the incidence of encountering people or workstations and, by extension, reducing reliance on its object detection and avoidance systems). Each camera system is a multicamera module (one pointing ‘forwards’ and the other ‘backwards’ – although NOEME is symmetrical without a distinct front or back) integrating a dual stereo camera for 3D depth sensing and wide detection, a 2D HD camera for longer range detections and an IR camera for continued intelligence in low visibility. “An edge computer sits in the module as well for processing sensor data to save processing bandwidth and, similarly, we have dedicated microcontrollers for the Lidar and ultrasonics,” Dehlinger says. “The 2D cameras give about 120 m of reliable detection range, the Lidar gives about 60 m, and the ultrasonics work very quickly but just up to 10-20 cm.” The main computer is an Intel NUC with a 14th generation i7 processor (containing 16 GB of RAM, a GPU and an SSD), running a secure, customised Linux OS. The sensors’ microcontrollers plug into this computer, as does a power management unit that functions as an intermediary to the two motor controllers. “It’s a powerful computer, and running ROC-E does take 80% of the total CPU capacity; but each part of the robot has at least dual sourcing – some have triple sourcing – so we can replace this computer with another one if needed, and we have used a few different ones,” Dehlinger notes. “In the meantime, we are dedicating some r&d to optimising our software stack, so as to use less of the CPU or switch to a smaller one; the big end objective being less energy consumption for day-to-day autonomy.” Comms & security A panel extending up from NOEME (designed roughly to be the same height as the end-user’s payload bay) displays remaining battery charge, enables mission planning and optionally integrates a USB3 plug for a wi-fi dongle and direct wired connection. “Generally, we don’t want to use wi-fi, so we typically install a 400 MHz radio into ROC-E for those that need some kind of remote monitoring and in-the-loop controllability. But the panel is usually sized large enough that mission programming can be done directly on the robot and prevent entirely the need for a hackable remote connection,” Dehlinger says. “All of this is optional based on customer needs, though; ROC-E can work with or without a display panel, with or without an RF connection or with dual wi-fi and 40 MHz connectivity. By and large, keeping it self-contained and radiofree is the best way to ensure its security; August/September 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Each of the two camera modules integrates a stereo camera system together with a longer-range camera and an IR sensor
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