Modeling and Simulation Fundamentals of Agile Vehicle Maneuvers in Hyper-Dynamic Environments

Principal Investigators

• Vladimir Vantsevich (PI), Worchester Polytechnic Institute
• Lee Moradi, Parth Patel (co-PI), WPI

Research Faculty

• Yan Wang, WPI

Students

• Noah Wolf, WPI

Government

• David Gorsich, Philip Frederick, U.S. Army GVSC

Industry

• Jianbo Lu, Nikola Corporation

Project #1.A124 began in Q1 2025.

Military vehicle maneuverability was termed as a vehicle operational property that defines the capability of the vehicle to navigate terrain and surroundings and to carry out (i) maneuvers, and (ii) administrative and tactical movements; while optimizing the maneuver and movement time by managing (I) vehicle turnability, (II) stability, and (III) handling, for the cost of mobility and energy efficiency if needed. As follows from the above-given definitions, maneuvers and maneuverability of next-generation vehicles in hyper-dynamic environments should be hyper-agile, i.e., the vehicles’ response to dynamic changes in the environment should be extremely fast, precise, and, when possible, preemptive.

The goal of this project is establishing agile situational movements and agile maneuvers and developing analytical fundamentals for military vehicle maneuverability to support modeling and simulation of the agile maneuvers in hyperdynamic environments with severe terrains. The project will concentrate mostly on UGV applications with the understanding that robotic vehicles can execute agile offensive and defensive maneuvers with no or acceptable damage to these vehicles as compared to vehicles controlled by humans.

Research Objectives 1, 2, and 3 target three basic research disciplines to establish agile situational movements and maneuvers for military vehicles. Research Objective 4 integrates the research outcomes of Research Objectives 1, 2, and 3 into a data set. Research Objective 5 develops modeling and simulation fundamentals to study the proposed situational movements and maneuvers.

Research Objective 1 – Racing Cars and Special Force Operations. Being inspired by motion planning in racing car road/off-road vehicle dynamics and tactical maneuvers utilized in special force operations, study the fundamentals of maneuver managing at high speeds and at the physical limits of the vehicle, including the high tire-surface grip and multi-vehicle dynamic scenarios. Specifically, extend or modify those maneuvers, when appropriate, to main military missions and tasks.

Research Objective 2 – Sports Science. Being inspired by sports science, analyze and potentially extend eccentric and concentric movements utilized by players in team sports (for example, soccer, ice hockey, or basketball) to UGV situational movements and then maneuvers. Specifically, design UGV operant 2 situational movements and maneuvers by embracing eccentric and concentric movements to achieve vehicle movement around, over, or through an obstacle.

Research Objective 3 – Theoretical Behaviorism. Being inspired by theoretical behaviorism as a basic science, analyze and potentially extend adaptive functions and metrics of animals’ behavior allocation and behavioral optimality of adaptive motionrelated operant behavior to UGV operant maneuver. Specifically, study predators/preys’ behavior allocations/optimality, and then, based on the animals’ operant behavior, design the UGV operant maneuver as a combination of UGV operant situational movements.

Research Objective 4 – Maneuvers Data Set. Using the research outcomes of Research Objectives 1, 2, and 3, establish a comprehensive data set of agile situational movements and agile maneuvers of military vehicles with qualitative and quantitative characterization metrics for hyper-dynamic and severe terrain environments.

Research Objective 5 – Modeling and Simulation Fundaments. Based on the results from Research Objectives 1,2,3 and 4, develop modeling and simulation fundamentals for military crewed uncrewed ground vehicles and study the major agile situational movements and extreme maneuvers for agile vehicle maneuverability. A mathematical model of CGV/UGV agile dynamics will be created and simulated in SIMULINK.

#1.A124