The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program recently demonstrated the use of autonomous air and ground vehicles to raid an urban area.
During the demonstration, the autonomous vehicles were deployed to conduct the DARPA-designed mission and to seek multiple simulated items of interest located in the buildings. The test was conducted on the grounds of the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility at the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Mississippi.
The object of the test was to gather intelligence about the urban area of operations. A type of 2D bar code often used in robotics was placed on and in buildings and throughout the urban environment. The bar codes represented items of interest requiring further investigation and/or hazards to avoid or render safe.
The vehicles relayed information, and human tacticians adaptively employed various swarm tactics to isolate and secure the buildings containing the identified items.
The test included two types of vehicles: Swarm Systems Integrators and Swarm Sprinters.
“It has been fascinating to watch the Swarm Sprinters, who may not have been previously exposed to realistic operational settings, begin to understand why it’s so difficult to operate in dense, urban environments,” Timothy Chung, OFFSET program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, said.