Aptima Inc., recently said it is developing software with iRobot [IRBT] and Imprimis to improve the safety and effectiveness of small-unit tactical teams in urban settings.
The software called Coordinating with Humans by Adjustable-autonomy for Multirobot Pursuit, or CHAMP, is being developed for the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC).
While small unmanned ground vehicles (SUGV) have improved in mobility, sensing, and artificial intelligence, CHAMP is focused on how a team of these assets can integrate with humans on a specific mission.
“When it comes to multiple robots in the field, we know from feedback that warfighters want a multiplier effect, having one-to-many control rather than just one-to-one,” said Jeanine Ayers, CHAMP project manager for Aptima, and associate division director of Software Engineering. “Given the practicalities and hazards of the urban battle space, we can’t expect soldiers to constantly look down and manipulate a device to control a robot. Rather, robots will need to function more like a human team member, self-organizing, acting autonomously, even communicating as a human would, with gestures, in a situation that calls for stealth.”
At the heart of CHAMP is a combination of algorithms that address several key challenges for mixed human-robotic cooperation in the urban battlefield. The system creates a search and pursuit strategy that’s optimized for any number of robots teamed together, with the robots methodically and systematically seeking the presence of adversaries.
The robots map and share the intelligence of the space around them and shares it with other networked team memers for situational awareness.
CHAMP’s adjustable autonomy allows the robot team to search independently, or under the more direct control of the human operator, where it dynamically adjusts the roles between human and the robot team as mission circumstances unfold. For example, when it detects an evader, a robot might verbally notify the human team through their headsets while guarding the contaminated space. Other robots would then take on new search objectives, or assume new roles, such as providing sentry cover as the human patrol team advances.
Aptima will be demonstrating CHAMP this week at the Robotics Rodeo Extravaganza June 27-29 at Ft. Benning, Ga.