Multi-Platform Manned/Unmanned System-Mission Planner/Controller

The goal of this project is to test the effectiveness of a communications, command and control tool. The iRobot automatic mission planner/controller will be used to create and maintain an inventory of available assets (manned or unmanned vehicles, or individual ground personnel) and their special abilities; receive a mission goal and any attendant requirements (i.e., covertness, speed of execution, terrain constraints); and create the specific sub-tasks and paths for the assets to follow in accomplishment of the mission goal - all with minimal intervention on the part of the operator. A simple example would be to use the tool to deploy a mixed group of robots and humans to surround a designated area in an urban setting, providing surveillance of its exit points. Robots with infrared sensing capability might be deployed to monitor traffic through a tunnel area connecting two buildings, robots carrying other specialized equipment might be sent to areas with a high probability of enemy fire, some of the stealthier ones being directed to take the most covert path possible; and the human assets might be reserved away from the line of fire, in an area where human interaction with noncombatants or human responsiveness might be crucial to the subtask at hand. Phase 1 and the Phase 1 option will assess the effectiveness of a very simple control system capable of directing a small number of human and robotic assets in a minimal, but dynamic scenario. Phase II and III will build on the basics examined in Phase I, adding mission complexity, expand the number of units under control; increasing the types and numbers of constraints placed upon the scenarios; and testing the system under field conditions specified by Special Forces or SEAL teams.