U.S. government commits up to $100 million to the project
From left, Clemson University Vice President for External Affairs Angie Leidinger, Clemson University President Jim Clements, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, U.S. Army GVSC Chief Scientist David Gorsich.
Courtesy photo
CLEMSON — Clemson University and the United States Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) announced an additional $22 million for a research partnership aimed at developing innovative virtual prototyping tools for designing the next generation of on- and off-road vehicles, with the U.S. government committing up to $100 million to the project.
The U.S. Army contributed an initial $18 million for the center in 2020. An additional $22 million committed in 2021 was formally obligated on Feb. 24, 2022. The Virtual Prototyping of autonomy-enabled Grounds Systems (VIPR-GS) Research Center at Clemson University is providing new simulation and digital engineering capabilities, as well as hardware demonstrations to increase efficiency in design-to-build processes in support of GVSC’s ambitious goals for rapid modernization of U.S. Army fleets.
Clemson University President Jim Clements and U.S. Army GVSC chief scientist David Gorsich made the announcement. They were joined by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Zoran Filipi, founding director, Virtual Prototyping of Ground Systems (VIPR-GS) Center. The announcement took place at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) campus.
“The VIPR-GS Center on the CU-ICAR campus is the next frontier of University research collaborations — supporting the Army’s priority of developing the next generation of combat vehicles through advanced autonomous systems,” said Clements. “I thank Senator Lindsey Graham and Congressman Jim Clyburn for their leadership on this project and their continued support of our research efforts.”
“The research endeavors at our main campus and innovation campuses throughout the state leverage the talent of our faculty, staff and students to equip our government and industry partners with the tools and workforce of the future,” he continued.
The recent allocation of funding brings the current commitment to Clemson from the Army to $40 million for VIPR-GS. In the year since the VIPR-GS Center was first announced, 65 faculty and 74 master’s and Ph.D. students have been added to support the research goals of advancing autonomous ground vehicle systems.
“The deployment of autonomous vehicles is a priority for the United States Army, and Dr. Filipi and the Clemson VIPR-GS team are uniquely positioned to facilitate the rapid development of virtual prototyping to expedite the technology roadmap development and transformation of U.S. Army ground vehicles,” said David Gorsich, chief scientist, U.S. Army GVSC, DEVCOM, Army Futures Command. “Additionally, advanced digital modeling and testing capabilities allow engineers to ‘fail early and cheaply,’ shaking out the best, most robust solutions more quickly before bending metal in physical prototyping.”
Research at the VIPR-GS Center is focused on autonomy-enabled ground vehicles, next-generation propulsion and energy systems, manned and unmanned teaming in unpredictable off-road environments, innovative simulations, and digital engineering tools to design off-road vehicle fleet’s systems of systems. The Department of Automotive Engineering’s hallmark Deep Orange program in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences at Clemson engages students in hardware demonstrations and will provide a full-scale testbed for validating research outcomes.
“Clemson University has a long and proud military tradition,” said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I’m very pleased that the U.S. Army and Clemson will be working together on this important project. The work they are doing will help save the lives of American service members in years to come.”