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Marionette™ is a universal control system that offers a flexible, low latency, highly modular “toolkit” which can be rapidly applied to just about any vehicle in a matter of weeks.
About
Digital Concepts Engineering Ltd (DCE) is an innovative British SME specialising in designing, producing, and deploying robotic control systems and uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) for hazardous environments. DCE's mission is to “keep people out of harm’s way” by utilising UGVs in dull, dirty, or dangerous tasks across industries such as defence, nuclear, emergency services, agriculture, and infrastructure maintenance.
DCE offers three main products:
· Marionette™ - a modular robotic control system that can be retrofitted to any vehicle. Marionette™ enables remote teleoperation and autonomous control, prioritising safety with a multi-layered approach.
· X Series UGVs – DCE’s flagship line of UGVs, designed to tackle the most demanding tasks across diverse terrains and industries. The X Series (X-2, X-3, and X-4) are affordable, high mobility and rugged UGVs.
· UGV Operator Training Course – the world’s first LANTRA-approved UGV operator training and certification, covering all aspects of UGV theory and practical handling for safety assurance and compliance.
Key Benefits
Marionette™ is a universal control system that offers a flexible, low latency, highly modular “toolkit” which can be rapidly applied to just about any vehicle in a matter of weeks. Whether the vehicle is tracked, wheeled, or legged – big or small - Marionette™ is the key enabler to digitise the existing platform such that it can be remotely or autonomously controlled. Marionette™ is GVA/IOP compliant and offers interfaces to vehicular control systems (electrical, electronic, electro-pneumatic, mechanical, hydraulic) and open interfaces to communications (RF, satellite, cellular), navigation (GNSS, INS, UWB, SLAM), and autonomy packages (ROS, ROS2, ISAAC).
Current capabilities facilitated by Marionette™ include:
· Remote – Local Hand Controller (<200m, 2.4GHz)
· Remote – Stand-off Teleoperation (~5km+, typically military-grade RF mesh network)
· Follow Me – Ultra-Wideband (UW) and Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control – used for vehicle convoying, or following people on foot.
· Avoid Me – opposite of Follow Me, using same technology to avoid a person/vehicle.
· GPS Waypoint Following – using pre-computed GPS route.
· Dynamic Handover – switching between remote or autonomous control and a human operator in-vehicle seamlessly and at speed.
Applications
Marionette™ has been applied in:
- Defence
- Nuclear
- Healthcare
- Agriculture
- Infrastructure Maintenance
Marionette™ is the key enabler for safe, assured, highly capable robotic control systems in a whole range of applications.