Army Uses AI To Autonomously Land Drone on Tank

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md)  What if, when taking heavy incoming enemy fire, US Army tanks and other armored vehicles were able to launch AI-enabled autonomous drones over the other side of a ridge to find…and help destroy… additional fast approaching enemy forces?  While hand-launched drones certainly exist today, the concept here would be for drones to autonomously launch, fly, land and adjust mid-flight to emerging variables to quickly learn, adjust and reposition in order to achieve mission success. 

This is a paradigm-changing measure of AI-enabled machine learning which Army Research Laboratory scientists anticipate will shape, inform and potentially even drive warfare and concepts of operation 10, 20 or even 30 years from now. 

A group of committed ARL scientists are working on advanced, AI-enabled computer algorithms designed to support real-time manned-unmanned “machine learning” wherein human input can enable an autonomous drone to essentially “learn” or “adapt” behaviors in response to certain contingencies.  The experimental concept is based upon a certain reciprocity, meaning the machine is able to respond to and incorporate critical input from a human.  The ongoing experimentation could be described in terms of an “evolution” of a certain kind, as AI-capable systems are known to only be as effective as their databases. This can at times present a certain quandary, regarding how an AI system might respond in the event that it comes across something that is not part of its database.  How quickly can it assimilate and accurately analyze and organize new information which is not part of its database?  ARL scientists are fast making progress with this “evolution” by training drones and autonomous systems to respond to and incorporate “human” input in real time. 

“Our ultimate goal is to have AI that is robust that we can actually use in the field that does not break down when it encounters a new situation. something new. We are hoping to use this technology to better advance the ways soldiers use that technology and get that technology to adapt to the soldier,”  Dr. Nicholas Waytowich, Machine Learning Research Scientist with DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, told Warrior in an interview. DEVCOM is part of Army Futures Command.