On August 8, on the Harwell campus (Oxfordshire, UK), GMV carried out the initial Shakedown test of the new mobile robot system nicknamed "BEAST". This is a test whose objective was to validate the functionality of the platform before upcoming tests in autonomy. The results from the test will be used for different projects within the framework of the Innovate UK R&D program.

BEAST is a new GMV rover system that is still a prototype with many subsystems to be added and improved for the final trial scheduled for March 2020. On this first time out of the lab, the rover has completed over 2.5 km traverse over often difficult terrain. Over 120 Gb of data was collected to be used for later analysis and training data for navigation.

BEAST is fully electric and runs on battery power. For future tests, the objective is to characterize the power profile, endurance and in-field recharge capability with the aim of all-day long continuous operation.

Moreover, the rover will run GMV's cutting edge autonomous navigation software which empowers it to perform a traverse of 10s of km per day sustained.This novel system is aimed to be deployed fully autonomously in remote environments over long durations, monitoring infrastructure, mining operations, agriculture and similar remote sites (both space and terrestrial).