A historic collaboration between the U.S. Army, the State of Texas and The University of Texas at Austin has taken a major step forward with the unveiling of the newly finished Army Futures Command robotics laboratory in the renovated Anna Hiss Gymnasium on campus.
A four-legged robot led the way as Gov. Greg Abbott, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and UT Austin President Jay Hartzell took a tour of the newly finished laboratory on Friday, Oct. 2. The facility will allow faculty researchers and students to work alongside Army personnel in developing state-of-the-art technology that will propel the modernization of the military.
“This is a day that epitomizes transformation,” Abbott said at the ceremony. “When I was attending The University of Texas in the late 1970s, believe it or not, the Anna Hiss gym was a place that I and others would come to for recreational basketball… Imagine the transformation from this being a recreational gym to being the platform where robotics are going to be created that will transform the future of the entire world.”
The facility is one part of a larger partnership between UT Austin and the Army Futures Command that began during the spring of last year. The Futures Command, headquartered in Austin, designated UT as the hub for two of its five research programs: Robotics and Assured Positioning, and Navigation and Timing, which develops advanced location tools to help soldiers navigate contested environments.
