How did a company go from making custom gears to collaborating with the Canadian Space Agency?

Does the thought of an on-road vehicle transform into an on-water vehicle sound futuristic to you? Then this interview will fascinate you. The concept of amphibious robotic vehicles, vehicles that go on land and in water, has been in existence for many decades now, with the earliest model dating back to the 1770s. To know more about this lesser-known industry, we were in conversation with ARGO, an innovative robotics company with over 50 years of history. Here's how the interview panned out.

A Brief About ARGO Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV)

What started as a manufacturer of custom gears and transmission assemblies, ARGO's vehicle division was established in 1967.  For over 50 years the company has been the leader in off-road amphibious vehicles. Its first amphibious vehicle, the six-wheeled "swamp buggy" was powered by ARGO's own transmission. ARGO is a vertically integrated company that has pushed the boundaries of what is possible with purpose-built components throughout the vehicles. From custom-built chassis to transmissions manufactured in-house, ARGO provides an end-to-end solution for every off-road application.

A Mission Fueled with Innovation

When asked about the company's history and its core mission, Brad Darling, CEO, and President had an interesting story to tell. After the initial years of manufacturing gears and transmissions, and later launching its first six-wheel amphibious off-road Extreme terrain vehicle, ARGO was constantly innovating and continued to work towards adding new products. Currently, its product lines consist of Xtreme Terrain Vehicles (XTV), All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV), Utility Task Vehicles (UTV), and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV).

Specifically, the UGV business started in 1992 through the creation of the ARGO Badger platform. The success of this led to many projects in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency in the development of Lunar Rover vehicles. ARGO's 30 plus years of robotics experience has led to a wide offering of capable off-road amphibious robotics platforms. At present, it has UGV platforms available in configurations of four, six, and eight-wheel variants, as well as dedicated tracked vehicles. All the vehicles are amphibious and are available in fully electric, combustion engines, or hybrid powertrains.

"We focus on providing the ARGO UGV platform with a clean flat top deck that enables our partner's complete flexibility to satisfy their customers' needs to be configured specifically for any mission", added Darling.

Contributions To the Robotics Industry

For almost 30 years, ARGO provides UGV platforms for robotics integrators and researchers. This accelerates the development of robots for numerous uses. "By providing a vehicle platform which is supported as the base for any application, we are cutting development time significantly, while also greatly increasing the capabilities of those applications by making use of our deep knowledge-base and expertise. In addition to being a platform provider, we sell under the ARGO Rover brand providing proven, mature systems to market as a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) offering", said the CEO.

Strategic Partnerships that Paved the Way Forward

Every company has partnerships that facilitate innovation and so does ARGO. As a company specializing in off-road amphibious robotic platforms that utilize a transmission for improved torque, speed, and run time, ARGO has an important partnership with Briggs and Stratton. Known as a "power company" for combustion engines, both companies have worked hard on developing the Vanguard ™ Lithium battery packs which are used in some of the ARGO UGVs. This partnership has enabled the fully electric operation of vehicles that can run continuously for up to 5 hours of autonomous driving (25kWh capacity).

"A key element that brought this partnership together was the desire to work with a North American company capable of not only providing a long-term product solution but coupling that with worldwide support and service capabilities."

Another strategic partnership that boosted innovation was with Milanion, a commercial and military integrator who has developed the Agema, a gas-powered UGV. This multi-role platform can be configured for any mission profile. Its fully amphibious capabilities allow it to go anywhere.

What is the Company's Vision?

In 2016, ARGO's President and CEO, Brad Darling joined the company and initiated a five-year strategic plan that included significant investment in the UGV business. This vision has pushed the capabilities of ARGO UGV platforms. A big part of this vision is to be the world leader in Off-road Amphibious UGVs that can traverse any obstacle they encounter.  Beyond this, it is about providing flexible platforms so that the application defines the product, rather than restricting the applications to the product's capabilities.  Having a range of platforms available where the user can choose the powerplant (gas, diesel, electric, hybrid), traction (wheels or tracks), and other critical options make ARGO UGV's the most flexible platforms in the world and suitable for any off-road application.

When Facing Challenges Is Rewarded By Recognition

"Our first robotic development was 30 years ago, and this journey has included many challenges. These challenges have helped to drive our innovation and enabled us to acquire a vast amount of experience which is the reason why ARGO is the platform of choice for off-road UGVs", said Darling. Overcoming hardships lead to ARGO's tremendous success and exceptional growth in its amphibious robotic vehicle sales. The company's recent stint with General Dynamic Land Systems (GD Land Systems) consisted of an exhaustive evaluation process that included delivery of initial platforms in September of 2017 to Fort Benning, Georgia. The current program calls for GD Land Systems to begin delivering units in the 2^nd quarter of 2021 with a potential 600+ vehicle Army program over a five-year period with work to begin on the first increment.

Insights into the Future of Robotics

The off-road robotics industry is on the cusp of massive growth. Globally, dozens of countries are currently implementing or evaluating autonomous robotics within their land forces, says Darling. This movement is about enhancing capabilities and improving the safety of the soldier. The same trend is underway in commercial applications as well.  "We aim to get people out of situations that are dangerous and remove the burden of monotony so that businesses utilize their human resources to their full potential", he concluded. ARGO anticipates the industry to evolve and grow rapidly over the next 5 years.