We’ve been keeping a huge secret and now we’re ready to share it… Earlier this year, Army Research Labs (ARL) contracted us to design an affordable, portable research platform for outdoor use. Working with them during the development phase, their team provided feedback for iteration on the platform’s performance and capabilities. And now, it’s ready to release to the world. Introducing the newest addition to Clearpath’s black and yellow robot family: Jackal Unmanned Ground Vehicle!

Jackal offers end-to-end integration including a built-in GPS, IMU, and computer, and a configurable top-plate. Engineered for the great outdoors, Jackal’s sturdy metal chassis, weatherproof design (IP 62) and skid-steer drive enables all-terrain operation, as well as lab experimentation, for a variety of applications.

Jackal

Jackal

Jackal’s also ROS-ready, so just like all of our other robots, users can leverage the open source community. What is unique to Jackal is that the complete ROS API provides full visibility into the operation of the system and it automatically detects the standard perception packages at startup, providing necessary ROS driver and simulation integration …AKA: it’s always ready to go!

“We designed Jackal for quick and easy application development,” said Julian Ware, our General Manager for Research Products at Clearpath Robotics. “Jackal’s standard accessories come fully integrated with documented libraries and programming examples. Everything about the robot is ready to work out of the box.”

Learn more about Jackal at clearpathrobotics.com/jackal. In the meantime, see how it can bring field research to… the field in this quick video!