Scientists from the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics and a consortium of other DLR institutes and technology partners are working with the World Food Programme (WFP) to investigate how remote-controlled trucks can be used to safely deliver aid supplies to their destinations. In the future, robot-controlled vehicles will drive along routes that pose great risks for human drivers, for example in the impassable and flood-affected areas of southern Sudan. They will be controlled by telepresence from a safe location. After two years of research, all components of the AHEAD cooperation project were presented for the first time in a successful final exercise overall demonstration on 9 November 2022 at the DLR site in Oberpfaffenhofen.

SHERP vehicles, which the WFP already uses successfully in crisis areas, are off-roaders which can move in any terrain, even in water or swamps, and can overcome climbing obstacles of up to one metre. The vehicle in Oberpfaffenhofen was equipped with several sensors for real-time monitoring of its surroundings and automated for remote control. In order to lose radio contact with the control system in the future, the SHERPs must be able to make safety and emergency stops at any time. To do this, they capture their surroundings with perception sensors, depth cameras stereo cameras and LIDAR systems.