BAE Systems on Monday announced the launch of a new Robotics Operations Center (ROC) that will serve as the central site for the company’s program to develop and deploy “software robots” for national security customers.
The site will bring together IT operations for the program, where BAE is working with technology firm
UiPath to build machine learning-powered bots that automate high-volume, repetitive tasks.
“The ROC is the culmination of years of continuous methodology development and the addition of new technologies like our partnership with UiPath, combined with the knowledge and experience gained through our extensive workforce of analysts who are working throughout the intelligence community,” Amber Moon, a BAE Systems spokeswoman, told Defense Daily.
Moon said the ROC will be located at the company’s intelligence and security sector headquarters in McLean, Virginia.
BAE Systems announced in June it has partnered with UiPath on the software robots effort, with plans to leverage the company’s machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA) tools (Defense Daily, June 7).
“RPA technology allows for automation of legacy and disparate IT systems, integration of business processes, and structuring of large data sets, which can improve efficiency and reduce operating costs,” Jon Dorn, acting chief technology officer for BAE Systems’ intelligence and security sector, said in a statement. “We use our expertise in defense and intelligence to provide customers with a tailored solution that meets the highest security standards.”
The RPA tools powering the software robots is said to “transform large volumes of data into relevant and actionable intelligence” for a range of IT operations, according to BAE.
“The emphasis on security is driving a significant increase in the collection of data across the IT enterprise, giving analysts access to more data in greater detail than ever before. RPAs augment a human analyst’s capability by allowing them to focus on high-value tasks, rather than tedious and repetitive actions, leading to faster and better decision-making,” Peder Jungck, BAE’s vice president and general manager of intelligence solutions, said in a statement.
BAE said the ROC will also work to establish best practices and standardization for the software robots, as well as offering assistance to customers for deploying the bots and RPA technology.