Latest Stories

Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Will Generative AI Transform Robotics?

In the current wave of excitement about applying large vision–language models and generative AI to robotics, expectations are running high, but conquering real-world complexities remains challenging for robots. Read on to learn more about the matter.

INSIDER

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Anduril Takes Software-Defined Approach to Hyperscale Defense Manufacturing

Anduril, the California-based defense autonomous systems startup, published a 32-page report on its new software-defined approach to defense manufacturing...

Application Briefs

Research Lab

Space Docking and Satellite AI Research

Can electro adhesive forces help ease the process of docking in-orbit satellites? A team of industry and University of Colorado Boulder researchers is determined to find out.

Application Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Quantifying Generative AI in Defense Applications

DARPA seeks proposals for the new Artificial Intelligence Quantified (AIQ) program that aims to develop technology to assess and enable the guaranteed performance of generative AI.

Articles

Internet of Things

Digital Twinning and Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information

Creating a digital twin is not just a technical feat; it is a strategic imperative that touches every facet of modern business. From security to sovereignty and from trust to ethics, the decisions made today about digital twin architecture will reverberate long into the future. Read on to learn more.

INSIDER

Manufacturing & Prototyping

OPINION: How Artificial Intelligence Eliminates Risk from Aerospace and Defense Quality Teams

The complexity of aerospace and defense (A&D) supply chains has outstripped the capabilities of human processing.

INSIDER

Robotics, Automation & Control

Northrop Grumman Assembles First Manta Ray UUV Prototype

Northrop Grumman has completed the assembly of its first full-size prototype of Manta Ray, the defense manufacturer's new unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).

INSIDER

Aerospace

Hermeus Rolls Out First Quarterhorse Hypersonic Test Aircraft

Hermeus has unveiled its first aircraft — Quarterhorse Mk 1 — which will take flight later this year.

Briefs

Unmanned Systems

One Person Can Supervise a Swarm of 100 Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles

Research involving Oregon State University has shown that a “swarm” of more than 100 autonomous ground and aerial robots can be supervised by one person without subjecting the individual to an undue workload.

Briefs

Sensors/Data Acquisition

New Cyber Algorithm Shuts Down Malicious Robotic Attacks

Australian researchers have designed an algorithm that can intercept a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyberattack on an unmanned military robot and shut it down in seconds. The algorithm, tested in real time on a replica of a U.S. Army combat ground vehicle, was 99 percent successful in preventing a malicious attack.

INSIDER

Motion Control

This Avionics Computer Enables Image Data Processing, Payload Control for NASA IM-1 Mission

Aitech provided a complete avionics computer system to Intuitive Machines for the IM-1 Mission, that successfully landed on the Moon on February...

INSIDER

Unmanned Systems

New UK Drone Strategy to Invest Billions in Unmanned Systems

The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MOD) published a new 12-page defense drone strategy last week that will see the agency invest £4.5 billion into the purchase of new unmanned...

Articles

Electronics & Computers

Certified Machine Learning-Based Avionics

Over the past few decades, aircraft automation has progressively increased. Advances in digital computing during the 1980s eliminated the need for onboard flight engineers. Avionics systems, exemplified by FADEC for engine control and Fly-By-Wire, handle lower-level functions, reducing human error.

Briefs

Aerospace

Report on Human Factors Issues Likely to Affect Air-Launched Effects

Air-Launched Effects (ALEs) are a concept for operating small, inexpensive, attritable, and highly autonomous unmanned aerial systems that can be tube launched from aircraft.

Application Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Autonomous Navigation Kits

Defense Innovation Unit
Washington D.C.
info@DIU.mil
www.DIU.mil

The Department of Defense (DoD) operates a vast array of military vehicles crucial for both sustainment and combat operations....

Articles

Power

Zonal Electrical Architectures Cut Vehicle Wiring-System Cost, Complexity

Ultimately, zonal architectures require a fundamentally reorganized software structure that allows the OEM to independently, quickly, easily, and modularly adapt the control of the entire vehicle while minimizing the complexity in the wiring harness and the number of control devices.

INSIDER

Manufacturing & Prototyping

REMUS 300: The Navy's New Unmanned Underwater Mine Fighting Vehicle

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) are the unheralded champions in maritime defense; poised to bring about a revolution in the scale of presence and capability delivery...

News

Imaging

Owl AI’s 3D Thermal Sensors See Further into the Dark

The race to develop low-cost and effective sensors for automated driving requires all-day effort. Getting sensors to accurately identify the world around them is easiest on a clear, sunny day, but that solves just part of the problem.

Articles

Unmanned Systems

DoD to Deploy Thousands of Low Cost Autonomous Systems Under Replicator Program

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks outlined the agency’s new “Replicator” initiative. Under the new Replicator initiative, over the next 18 to 24 months, the Defense Department will deploy thousands of low cost autonomous systems across multiple domains.

Briefs

Unmanned Systems

A Simpler Method for Learning to Control a Robot

Researchers from MIT and Stanford University have devised a new machine-learning approach that could be used to control a robot, such as a drone or autonomous vehicle, more effectively and efficiently in dynamic environments where conditions can change rapidly.

Technical Innovation

Information Technology

Digital Transformation of the Construction Jobsite

There has been talk in recent years of an oncoming digital transformation coming to the construction jobsite. While there are some components of this transformation that have yet to be realized, in many ways the industry’s digital transformation has already begun. Read on to learn more.

INSIDER

Power

Navy Deploys Automated Energy Assessment Tools to the Fleet

Engineers at the Naval Sea Systems Command have achieved an important milestone with the installation of the Global Energy Information System (GENISYS) suite onboard DDG 51...

INSIDER

Weapons Systems

DoD Replicator Low Cost Autonomy Initiative is Not a New Program of Record, Hicks Says

During an appearance at a Defense News conference last week, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks provided more details about the new...

INSIDER

AR/AI

Texas A&M Researchers Developing Algorithm to Automate Aircraft Ship Landings

Landing a helicopter on a ship’s flight deck is one of the most challenging and complex maneuvers demanded of a Navy pilot. Unlike a runway, the landing area...

INSIDER

AR/AI

Osprey MK III Completes First Autonomous Flight

As part of Eglin Air Force Base's new Autonomy, Data, and AI Experimentation Proving Ground (ADAx) effort , the Osprey MK III unmanned aircraft system (UAS) recently completed its first...

Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Update on Machine-Learned Correctness Properties

Despite the potential advantages to be derived from employing autonomous systems, evidence-based assurance of dependability is a key to obtaining users’ trust in these systems.

Executive Viewpoints

Unmanned Systems

Driver-In-The-Loop for Off-Highway Development

Driver-in-the-loop (DIL) simulators have become an essential tool for passenger-car OEMs and suppliers, for cutting development time and cost and delivering a better product. In the past 20...

Application Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Human Machine Teaming

Tomahawk Robotics announced that it will provide its universal command and control technology and products for the U.K.’s Army Future Capabilities Group Human Machine Teaming tactical uncrewed systems fleet program.

Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Characterizing Motion Prediction in Small Autonomous Swarms

Prior investigations of swarm robot control focus on optimizing communication and coordination between agents, with at most one human control scheme, or with discrete (rather than continuous) human control schemes.