Challenge: Collaboration of Robotic Systems

Challenge Statement

The Department of National Defence (DND) is looking for solutions to allow for a single human operator to control and coordinate multiple robotic systems (e.g. uninhabited vehicles, across ground, air, and sea or combinations of each) and perform tasks in an environment with many obstacles where vehicle localization is difficult. Background and Context

Robotic system usage can reduce the human exposure to dirty, dangerous, or dull tasks as well as assist in accomplishing tasks that are beyond the capacity of a single person. Robots can evolve from singular function tools to function as team members capable of contributing to the solution of larger scale issues. This may involve the self-organization of a large number of robots into a group to augment the collective capability and capacity in executing objectives, assigned with high levels commands and/or actioned due to evolving degrees of autonomous behaviour. Human must remain in the loop for supervision and the provision of high-level commands.

Outcomes and Considerations

The land, sea, and air environments each present unique challenges for a robot’s mobility, perception, and navigation that must be overcome. Methods for real-time communication and processing may need to be developed to enable synchronization between systems.

The desired outcomes are:

• The definition of the limiting factors of human versus automated (e.g. artificial-intelligence) control as both a function of task and environment complexity (e.g. noise, clutter, GPS and communication denial);
• The development of designs that help a single operator to control multiple robots simultaneously, possibly over as many as 100 platforms of both current and emerging designs; and
• The development of the capability for robotic platforms to function individually as well as in partnerships in order to perform coordinated and collaborative functions, such as surveillance, that are not possible using singular systems.

Proposals should address privacy and ethical concerns.