US soldiers test NOMAD robot mule; heat and terrain limit range

Terrain cut the NOMAD’s effective range. The robot’s nominal range is about 600 meters. The ridges around the exercise area reduced that to roughly 200 meters, soldiers said. Unlike some uncrewed systems, the NOMAD lacks a return-home feature. If the connection drops, soldiers have to retrieve it manually.

The trailer used to transport the NOMAD showed wear after repeated deployments. The ramps, in particular, sustained damage. In one incident a ramp gave way and the robot flipped onto its side. Soldiers righted it without damage, the manufacturer did not respond to Business Insider’s queries.

Army leaders said the exercise was designed to test how technologies perform in extreme conditions and to collect feedback for vendors and the service. Ukraine’s use of unmanned ground vehicles to carry supplies and ammunition has added urgency to similar US military efforts.

Soldiers feeding back on the NOMAD’s performance said the system is useful, the heat and terrain issues need fixing before it can be relied on in sustained operations. The aim of peacetime experimentation, they said, is to work out those problems before a real conflict.