Mission Command of Autonomous Systems

Army infantry Commanders rely on autonomous systems to gain situational awareness about what is around the next building or over the next hill. However, in smaller Army units, the Commander has limited personnel to help plan out and manage these autonomous systems. Tasking autonomous systems requires that the Commander first task the system operators, who then have to translate that intent into low-level terms the autonomous systems understand. This process is error-prone and results in longer, slower information-to-decision loops for the Commander, which makes the unit as a whole less prepared and less agile on the battlefield. To make autonomous systems more useful and usable, SoarTech proposes to develop a Smart Interaction Device for Mission Command that will enable a Commander to interact directly with these autonomous systems, using natural, multi-modal interaction. This will reduce the cost to employ these systems and improve the Commanders situation awareness and decision-making. In this Phase I, we will leverage our existing tools and experience to research a multi-modal, human-computer interaction systems for mission command of autonomous systems. We will analyze current Commander interactions with staff and assess the feasibility of developing such an interface for mission command.