<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div><br></div><div>A reminder that tomorrow, THURSDAY May 1 will be our sixth “Conversations on Autonomy” discussion, 3-5 pm in 33-206. Our guests will be John Wissler an Jim Paduano of Aurora Flight Sciences speaking about the Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System (AACUS) that Aurora did for ONR — a full size autonomous helicopter for cargo delivery and medieval applications (see article below from the Wall Street Journal online on April 5). </div><div><br></div><div>The aim of “Conversations on Autonomy" is to meet every couple of weeks and invite some researchers to have short presentations and open discussions on issues surrounding autonomy. We aim to build a community of people interested around some of these issues, including regulatory, policy, and R&D dimensions. The seminars are open. <br><br>The schedule for the rest of the term is:<br><br>May 15 — Jon How (Aero/Astro) (33-206)<br><br><br><i>Please share this invitation with your grad students! </i><br><br><br>Thanks,<br><br>David Mindell</div><div><br></div><div><h1 class="title" style="font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; color: rgb(75, 75, 75); -webkit-hyphens: manual; max-width: 100%; font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">Navy Drones With a Mind of Their Own</h1><div class="clear" style="max-width: 100%; clear: both; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><p style="max-width: 100%;">The U.S. Navy has unveiled new drone technology that allows the craft to take off and plot its routes autonomously, without a ground-based pilot. The drones carrying the new software will likely be deployed within a year. Photo: Office of Naval Research.</p></div></div></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">WASHINGTON—Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder has positioned himself to become the <a href="http://topics.wsj.com/person/B/Jeff-Bezos/698" data-ls-seen="1" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Jeff Bezos</a> of the Pentagon.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">Much as the <a href="http://quotes.wsj.com/AMZN" data-ls-seen="1" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Amazon.com</a> Inc. <span data-channel-path="/quotes/nls/amzn" data-channel-last-price="300.38" data-channel-currency="$" data-utc-offset-hours="-4" data-ticker-code="AMZN" data-country-code="US" style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="http://quotes.wsj.com/AMZN" data-ls-seen="1" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">AMZN <span style="max-width: 100%;">+1.04%</span></a> </span>founder envisions mini-drones that deliver small packages across America, Adm. Klunder, the Navy's research chief, wants to create innovative unmanned helicopters able to perform tasks now carried out by humans: resupplying troops in remote areas and rescuing wounded Marines from the battlefield.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">His plan is moving ahead, and Navy officials will unveil new technology Saturday that with the push of a button allows helicopters—manned or unmanned—to choose their own routes, take off and land.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">The Navy views the five-year, $100 million program as a major advance in the Pentagon's hopes for taking the "manned out of unmanned" aircraft. Over the next decade, the military is aiming to create autonomous drones that can help soldiers carry out night raids, search oceans for trouble, and select targets for attack.</p><div class="clear" style="max-width: 100%; clear: both; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><img width="553" height="369" style="max-width: 100%; border: 1px inset rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392); margin: 0.5em auto; display: block;" apple-inline="yes" id="92231B98-1A2B-41F4-A2A8-5E8C46398BF9" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:059B3817-D89E-4FA3-832C-DE82202E71B4@mit.edu"></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">Lance Cpl. Cody Barss uses a tablet computer during a demonstration in Quantico, Va., of a system that could support forces on the front lines, as an alternative to convoys, manned aircraft or air drops. <span style="max-width: 100%; font-style: italic;">U.S. Navy</span></p></div></div></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">This is "truly leap-ahead technology," Adm. Klunder said of the new autonomous helicopter advances.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">"What we're talking about doing with full size helicopters—and we've done it—we're talking about delivering 5,000 pounds of cargo," he said.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">The Navy program has put the system through successful test runs at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">Using a special app and a tablet, operators given only a half-hour of training were able to direct small helicopters to land on their own. The helicopters can choose their own routes, pick landing sites and change their destination if they spot unexpected obstacles that emerge at the last minute.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">Autonomous technology will make it easier for the military, which won't have to rely on highly trained operators to route and land helicopters.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">But while it could mark the advent of an era in which the military operates more sophisticated equipment with fewer people, it also is likely to stir concern about an overreliance on technology.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">"We're starting to move into an autonomous regime, and that's going to have hugely disruptive effects," said Shawn Brimley, a former Pentagon official who is now executive director of the Center for a New American Security. "I would almost call it a revolution."</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">To some, the foray into autonomous aircraft is a move that conjures images of killer drones, capable of choosing targets and hunting them down without human oversight.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">To address those concerns, the Pentagon has devised special guidelines meant to ensure that the military won't allow drones to carry out "kill missions" without human involvement.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">Autonomous drones that require less human oversight could also take some strain off the Pentagon as it cuts back the size of the military to deal with budget cuts.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">The Pentagon's expanding drone fleet has limited ability to operate autonomously. The Navy's experimental combat drone, the X-47B, landed itself on an aircraft carrier last July. The Army wants to create a robot that can operate on its own in helping soldiers search for suspects.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">The Navy and the Marine Corps envision using the autonomous helicopter technology to more easily fly tons of supplies to remote bases. Military developers are even talking about the prospect of using the system to carry out emergency battlefield evacuations for troops.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">The new systems, developed by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Aurora Flight Sciences, are designed to be used on the Pentagon's biggest helicopters, officials said.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">Development still has a way to go. The new drone capabilities still must face more challenging trials, such as flying at night and in difficult weather. But military officials expressed confidence they could begin using the system in a year.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251);">"As far as innovative projects go, I can't think of one that's more important to the Marine Corps right now—or one that shows as much promise," said Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, commander of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory and Adm. Klunder's deputy.</p><p style="max-width: 100%; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 28px; background-color: rgb(251, 251, 251); position: static; z-index: auto;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;">Write to </strong>Dion Nissenbaum at <a href="mailto:dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com" target="_new" data-ls-seen="1" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com</a></p></div></body></html>