The Pentagon has launched a new competition for the design of laser-powered drones inspired by bats and insects.
In an announcement this week, the Department of Defense revealed its new DESI pilot program is seeking proposals for a number of topics that currently stand as ‘defense challenges,’ including highly maneuverable drones.
The competition aims to pave the way for autonomous craft that can operate more efficiently with little intervention from a human pilot, and make swift decisions to change direction and avoid obstacles.
Over the last decade, researchers have increasingly been working to mimic natural processes in robotic systems to improve efficiency, like Caltech’s BatBot (pictured). And, the new competition hopes to harness recent advancements to create better drones
According to the announcement, the Defense Enterprise Science Initiative program is seeking ‘to devise new paradigms for autonomous flight, with a focus on highly-maneuverable platforms and algorithms for flight control and decision-making.’
This year’s competition is designed to focus on sensing, mobility, and autonomy.
Along with the biological-inspired drones, research topics will include power beaming, for wireless power transmission, soft active composites, and metamaterial-based antennas.
Over the last decade, researchers have increasingly been working to mimic natural processes in robotic systems to improve efficiency.
And, the new competition hopes to harness these recent advancements to create bat-like drones powered by lasers, according to Defense One.
‘The biological study of agile organisms such as bats and flying insects has yielded new insights into complex flight kinematics of systems with a large number of degrees of freedom, and the use of multi-functional flight surface materials,’ the announcement states.
‘Progress in sensors, optimization, and miniaturization of processors, optimization and miniaturization of processors, and advances in flight control algorithms have also made it feasible to enable real-time autonomy in a miniature robotic system.
‘As a result of these advances, there exists a possibility of creating autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have significant improvements in maneuvrability, survivability and stealth over traditional quadcopter or fixed wing designs.’
Eventually, the goal is to create autonomous UAV that can effectively navigate a battlefield with ‘minimal intervention from a human pilot.’
It comes just months after DARPA revealed it is looking to develop robotic swarms that can assist troops from the ground and skies, with hundreds of drones all working together.
The Pentagon’s research branch Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program is seeking ideas for new systems that could allow for ‘human-swarm teaming.’
The program has awarded contracts to teams from Raytheon and Northrop Grumman to design, develop, and deploy the technology in physical and virtual environments – and eventually, they’re hoping to create swarms of over 250 robots.
The systems will include a game-based architecture where the swarms can be designed and integrated, according to DARPA.
Every six months, the program plans to solicit participants known as ‘sprinters’ to test out the systems across five categories: swarm tactics, swarm autonomy, human-swarm teaming, virtual environment, and physical testbed.
ARMY’S ‘FLYING SQUIRREL’ DRONE
The US Army has revealed an experimental drone that resembles a flying squirrel that can ‘transform in flight.’
According to the researchers at the US Army’s Research Laboratory, the small unmanned craft relies on a tilt-rotor design.
This is much like the V-22 Osprey, they explain, which uses motors that tilt themselves.
The goal is to create a system that can work with soldiers as a team, the Army researchers explain.
Using a motion capture system, the team can track the position of the craft as it flies, and then use these coordinates for optimal control, according to the researcher.
DARPA is now looking for the first set of swarm sprinters.
The experiments aim to refine the swarming abilities of unmanned aircraft systems and small unmanned ground systems in complex urban environments, according to the agency.
‘The swarm sprints are empirical experiments designed to accelerate our understanding of what swarms can do in urban environments,’ said Timothy Chung, program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office.
‘By having swarm sprints at regular intervals, we’re able to ensure that we’re keeping up with the latest technologies – and are in fact helping inform and advance those technologies – to better suit the needs of the OFFSET program.
The Pentagon’s research branch has revealed its Offensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program is seeking ideas for new systems that could allow for ‘human-swarm teaming’ in cities
‘Given the wide range of capabilities that we’re interested in, we’re looking for wherever those innovative solutions are going to come from, whether they be small businesses, academic institutions, or large corporations.’
The first sprint experiment is designed to test swarm tactics of a fleet of over 50 air and ground robots to isolate a target in an urban environment.
This would be an area of just two square city blocks, in a mission lasting 15-30 minutes.