Marathon Targets

Marathon designs, builds and operates autonomous robots for live fire training. Its AI driven, armored robotic humanoids look, move and behave like people. The company says it deployed the world's first autonomous tactical training robots in September 2008.

The company says militaries rarely train with realistic moving targets until they face combat. Its robots aim to close that gap. Live fire becomes a decision making exercise under stress, the company says.

The site reports more than 20,000 training events, more than 200,000 miles of autonomous driving under fire, and more than 20 million rounds fired. It says over 90 percent of its new features come from customer suggestions.

Customers include the US Marine Corps, US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, Canadian Forces, Australian Defence Force, UAE Presidential Guard, Slovenian Army, Bundeswehr and Poland's Territorial Defense Force. A US Marine Corps end user evaluation of more than 5,000 shooters described the robots as a vast improvement to training.

Its robots drive autonomously across a range and communicate with each other. A single operator can control dozens of robots, even at long range and out of sight. Robots stay inside their movement box, so they do not draw fire outside the safety zone. They flinch and groan when hit, and fall when killed.

The product family includes outdoor, indoor and vehicle robots that use the same command and control interface. Training modes include a robotic opposing force, live fire blue force, robotic role players, simulated munitions, laser engagement and emulated conventional targets. The robots can also be replicated in a virtual world for live and virtual training.

The company's zero infrastructure range modernization approach can turn an open field into a range in hours, rather than years. Robots can be bought or rented through training as a service. Over 90 percent of its robot operators are military veterans.

Services

• Autonomous robotic targets
• Live fire robotic OPFOR
• Robotic role players
• Simulated munitions
• Robotic laser engagement
• Training as a service
• Zero infrastructure range modernization
• Test and evaluation
• Urban and indoor ranges
• Robotic LVC integration