A 21st century human tendency is to see our own ideas as original, to believe we come up with concepts which no one else has ever considered. Today, we highlight an “Innovation Summit” report of events from seven years ago, proving these notions are misplaced. In 2008 the Office of Naval Research sponsored an investigation of unmanned systems and autonomy. Using a two-step process of brainstorming, followed by a mix of meetings and wargames, ONR realized that creating a system which can sense, predict, communicate and “take sequential actions to achieve its goals” is not easy.
This report is compelling in the way it defines what an autonomous system should be able to do, and for grappling with how such systems can interact. Today, mixing manned aircraft and autonomous systems in the same airspace takes effort, getting machines to make real choices is hard, and delivering these capabilities on a wide scale takes considerable effort. Yet while these questions were all asked seven years ago, the Department of the Navy is still seeking answers to them today. If someone ever doubts that Navy information is an asset, read this short report and ask, what could we have we learned from it, and by doing so how much time could we saved in developing autonomy? ...
Download the Autonomous Systems Innovation Summit Final Report
Reprinted from the DON/SECNAV Innovation website: http://www.secnav.navy.mil/innovation/.
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