The Army Research Lab (ARL) aims to put its robotics research efforts into enabling the teaming of future autonomous systems with soldiers, a program official said at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International in Washington D.C., said recently.
Jon Bornstein of ARL Robotics Program Office said the lab is working to provide technology to provide greater autonomy not only for ground systems, but air systems and surface vessels from micro-systems to combat vehicles. Working with soldiers such autonomous systems become team members as well as combat multipliers.
However, autonomy is “conditional,” Lt. Gen. Michael Vane said in his keynote address at the conference. Autonomy depends on such things as reliability, the complexity of the task and the variety of the operational environment. Soldiers must be able to control autonomous sytems to suit the conditions as they change.
Vane’s presentation included a quote from the Arrmy’s newly released Capstone Concept, which considers robotics a promising technology: “Improved robotics offer the potential to deploy appropriate combinations of manned and unmanned systems to perform an increasing range of tasks.”
Vane, deputy commanding general, Futures, and director, Army Capabilities Integration Center, Army Training and Doctrine Command, said people should not have to accommodate the technology–robotics must become a tool for soldiers, for example, making them more effective in achieving their mission.
Additionally, the earlier the users and the technology developers begin collaboration, the better, he said.
ARL work identifies certain technologies that are key to achieving those goals: perception, intelligence, human-robot interface (HRI), manipulation and mobility, Bornstein said.
For example, he said, perception technologies include the ability to sense and understand terrain, objects and behavior. Intelligence technologies would allow the robotic unit to have the ability to learn and adapt, perform certain behaviors and be able to collaborate. HRI technologies include the ability for robotic units to share awareness and communication. Manipulation technologies include the ability to closely couple sensing control and actuation, and very small ‘parts”–micro-mechanics.
Additionally, the key technologies must be supplemented by supporting technologies that apply elsewhere, such as micro-electronics, network communication, materials and structures and cognitive science, psychology and biology, and power sources, storage, transmission and propulsion.
To examine these areas, ARL sponsors wide ranging collaborative research. For example, the recently concluded Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance, managed by Bornstein, included General Dynamics [GD] as lead industrial partner, BAE Systems, SRI International, Alion Science and Technology and a host of universities. Technical work areas include advanced perception, intelligent control and behavior development and human machine interfaces.
After a competition, final approval is expected soon from the Army for basic and applied research with an anticipated funding level of about $13 million a year. There is also a provision for as much as 10 percent of funds to be devoted to new and innovative research conducted by non-consortium members.
Another effort is the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology Cooperative Technology Alliance, which aims to improve tactical situational awareness in urban and complex terrain by allowing the autonomous operation of a collaborative ensemble of multifunctional, mobile microsystems, he said. The integrated academic, industrial and government alliance is a five- to 10-year program valued at about $7.5 million a year for basic research. Research challenges include microsystem mechanics, microelectronics, processing for autonomous operation, and power.