Think back to any sci-fi adventure flick you’ve ever seen to easily envision an environment populated by people working seamlessly with an assortment of drones and droids that willingly aid and even protect their human counterparts. Would you believe this seemingly futuristic vision is on the verge of being realized onboard the flight decks of aircraft carriers and other air-capable ships currently serving in the U.S. Navy’s fleet?

Within the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics area of the Aircraft Platform Interface Laboratory at the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAVAIR) in Lakehurst, N.J., scientists and engineers are using what we think of as industrial light and magic—namely, artificial neural networks, intelligent data agents, and expert systems—to create machinery that will reduce the human workload in labor-intensive areas and replace people in situations that are considered physically difficult and dangerous.

One of the ongoing projects at NAVAIR is the development of a shipboard weapon loader, which is a manipulator mounted on an omni-directional platform. Building such a mechanism is complicated by the dynamics of the shipboard environment. It is comparable to one person lifting an automobile to a certain point in space with the precision of a Swiss watch, while standing on a moving floor.

NAVAIR is also exploring the uses of dynamic gesture (as opposed to static pose) recognition. For instance, if a computer can automatically recognize gesture signals provided by a camera, then such a system could be used to control unmanned aircraft during flight deck operations. Using this system, an unmanned aircraft would respond to its human handler, thereby mirroring the way in which a pilot is customarily directed on the flight deck. If such a gesture control system is developed, unmanned aircraft could be seamlessly integrated alongside manned aircraft with minimum investment.

The technologies, at present being developed for use in military applications, have the potential to be applied in other areas with high accountability such as the construction industry and disaster preparedness agencies, as well as in the development of assistive technologies.

For more information, contact Thomas Worsdale, (732) 323-2620.