6 juin 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Airbus, Diehl aim at future air war with drone wingman, remote carrier
The companies proposed new concepts for unmanned aerial vehicles capable of anything from reconnaissance to strike missions.
24 août 2018 | International, C4ISR
DARPA wants an AI system that can basically make sense of everything
By: Daniel Cebul
Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is looking for an artificial intelligence and machine-learning model that can help scientists and researchers push their work to new limits.
The Automating Scientific Knowledge Extraction (ASKE) program, announced Aug. 17, is the first contract opportunity DARPA has released as part of its new AI exploration program. The goal is to establish the feasibility of new AI concepts and do it fast ― within 18 months of award ― to help DARPA outpace global AI science and technology discovery efforts.
Specifically, the ASKE opportunity is looking to develop an AI system that can rapidly aggregate scientific data over a number of complex systems (physical, biological, social) and identify new data and information resources automatically. Science depends on equations and complex computations of large data sets. The proposed AI system would be able to interpret and expose scientific knowledge and underlying assumptions in existing computational models to extract useful information, like causal relationships, correlations and parameters. This information would then be integrated into a machine-curated model that generates more robust hypotheses.
To ensure the system is working with the full-breadth of scientific information available, DARPA is interested in a system that automatically verifies published scientific results and can monitor “fragile economic, political, social and environmental systems undergoing complex events,” in real-time. For such a system to be viable, DARPA believes advanced AI techniques such as “natural language processing, knowledge-based reasoning, machine learning, and/or human-machine collaboration” are needed.
Although rapid and real-time aggregation of data from a variety digital sources may have military applications, for now DARPA maintains its “overriding interest is in innovative approaches to extracting knowledge from scientific models.”
The winner will be awarded a contract worth as much as $1 million for a prototype. Proposals are due Sept. 17.
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21 novembre 2018 | International, Terrestre
One company wants to help herd US Army robots
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Endeavor Robotics has provided quick, off-the-shelf solutions to the U.S. Army for many years, but the Boston-based company is now gaining significant traction at a time when the service is looking to streamline its petting zoo of ground robots. By necessity, during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army scrambled to buy unmanned ground vehicles that could provide a level of standoff between soldiers and the dangers faced on the battlefield. This resulted in the procurement of roughly 7,000 UGVs from Talons to PackBots to Dragon Runners. Endeavor, which launched as a private company in 2016 but previously existed as iRobot's defense and security business, supplied PackBots to the service as well as a few other small UGVs. It gained more traction in October 2017, when the company secured a to provide the service a platform it calls Centaur: a medium-sized robot (less than 164 pounds) to provide standoff capability to identify and neutralize explosive hazards. That served as the groundwork for what the company hopes will be major expansion in the Army, not only delivering an array of systems but supporting a strategy of interoperability. Future bots Now Endeavor is setting its sights on two other efforts underway that would transition the Army from its hodgepodge procurement strategy used during the wars in the Middle East to a common chassis for a small, medium and large UGV, all managed by one common controller. Each system is meant to have a high level of interoperability and plug-and-play capability as missions expand for ground robots and technology improves. The Army already whittled down the competition in April to provide a Common Robot System-Individual, or CRS-I — a man-packable robot that is less than 25 pounds and highly mobile, equipped with advanced sensors and mission modules for dismounted forces. The design will allow operators to quickly reconfigure for various missions in the field. Endeavor will compete against QinetiQ for a contract expected to be worth up to $400 million to build more than 3,000 robots. The contract award is anticipated in the first quarter of calendar year 2019. Endeavor's offering has been kept under wraps, literally and figuratively, with its CRS-I platform covered in a shroud inside of a case at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. The Army's other major program — the Common Robotic System-Heavy or CRS-H — is a larger platform expected to weigh 500 to 1,000 pounds. The system will be expected to perform highly dexterous manipulation procedures to disarm vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices from a safe distance. Endeavor survived a first downselect in the CRS-H competition with plans to use its Kobra platform as the base, Tom Frost, Endeavor's president, told Defense News in a recent interview. There are now three competitors in the mix as of this summer. The program will have a series of demonstrations that will assist the Army in choosing a winner. The first demonstration is underway at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and the second is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2019. Beyond the Army's current programs, Endeavor has been working to refine its technology through programs like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's effort to build a system-of-systems solution that can operate in subterranean environments. It's the only company among a list of participants in academia to secure a $1.5 million contract to participate in the DARPA challenge. The company's solution consists of the Kobra robot that will enter subterranean environments carrying radio repeaters — based on the company's small, throwable FirstLook robots — and drop them off along the way to continue connectivity as it travels deeper underground, according to Frost. The system will also carry a four-legged robot supplied from Ghost Robotics. The robot would deploy from Kobra to explore more difficult and rugged terrain, and a quadcopter will investigate vertical shafts and other hard to reach places, Frost described. “All robots will be linked by the same radio technology and all the data they gather will be assembled into one picture,” Frost said. The final winner of the challenge will win $2 million in 2021. An era of autonomy While robots have been around for years and “are really fantastic,” Frost said, “the way you really recognize the full potential of the ground robots is to make them autonomous.” The company has been working on capability for its robots to self-build maps of an area, travel autonomously, and report or tag noteworthy information along the way. All of Endeavor's systems have built-in algorithms, for instance, to detect a human or an explosive. “They don't require an operator to have their hand on the joystick the entire time,” Frost said. “Our systems have eliminated the joystick altogether” in favor of a touchpad with self-explanatory icons. Looking deeper into the future, Endeavor is positioning itself to participate in the Army's newest, and potentially largest ever, ground robotics modernization effort, the Robotic Combat Vehicle program, which is just beginning to take shape under Army Futures Command. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2018/11/12/one-company-wants-to-help-herd-us-army-robots
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31 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
MIT, USAF Sign Agreement To Launch AI Accelerator
New Program Will Focus On Rapid Deployment Of Artificial Intelligence Innovations In Operations, Disaster Response, And Medical Readiness Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson has announced a contract with Massachusetts Institute of Technology focused on accelerating artificial intelligence technologies through fundamental research in computational intelligence, reasoning, decision-making, autonomy and relevant societal implications. The agreement includes selecting eleven Airmen for a research and development collaboration team designed to field practical AI solutions for real-world, national security challenges. Beginning this summer, the combined officer and enlisted team representing various Air Force career fields, is expected to work with researchers at MIT to harness the university's student talent, renowned faculty and state-of-the art facilities and laboratories. “MIT is a leading institution for AI research, education and application, making this a huge opportunity for the Air Force as we deepen and expand our scientific and technical enterprise. Drawing from one of the best of American research universities is vital,” Wilson said. The partnership will address a broad range of AI projects such as decision support, maintenance and logistics, talent management, medical readiness, situational awareness, business operations and disaster relief. “This collaboration is very much in line with MIT's core value of service to the nation,” said Maria Zuber, MIT's vice president for research and the E.A. Griswold professor of geophysics. “MIT researchers who choose to participate will bring state-of-the-art expertise in AI to advance Air Force mission areas and help train Air Force personnel in applications of AI.” As part of its Science and Technology Strategy, the Air Force launched a number of similar partnerships with higher education institutions around the U.S., each with a different focus area underscoring the Air Force's emphasis on driving innovation through government, academic and private sector partnerships. “MIT continues to pursue research that addresses current problems, while training researchers to think through the implications for tomorrow as research is translated to new technologies and new problems,” adds Krystyn Van Vliet, associate provost and professor of materials science and engineering and of biological engineering. “The MIT-Air Force AI Accelerator allows MIT to demonstrate that concept when AI provides one of the tools for human decisions." The Air Force plans to invest approximately $15 million per year as it builds upon its five-decade long relationship with MIT. (Source: USAF, MIT news releases) http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=3df3a529-4d35-463c-8f74-f927b83e0b32