US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command conducted research on robotics over the past decade. But, only recently has the military begun to integrate these technologies into its battlefield. They have been testing robots, using them to detect IEDs or recover Ravens. The US Marine Corps is also testing a recon robot for urban warfare. These robots are designed to work as a team with Soldiers. These robots can be programmed to execute planned actions and also can make suggestions about changes.
The US Army has developed an algorithm-based teaching system that will allow Soldier robotics to communicate with each others. The system will allow the robots to communicate with Soldiers using spoken language and then execute the necessary actions. The system will allow the robots ask questions to overcome doubt. This will allow robots to complete joint tasks at an operational speed and will reduce the learning curve of Soldiers.
A key challenge in creating an algorithm based learning system is to know the right questions. The team created a natural language understanding system that can process Soldier's spoken language. It was based on statistical classification techniques. The system was trained by a small collection of human-robot conversation. This allowed the team to slowly reduce the variability in natural speech. The team is currently working on connecting the output semantic representation of a Soldier's spoken language to the grounding system of the robot.
Algorithm-based learning systems are designed to improve Soldier-robot cooperation in tactical environments. This will allow the robots and Soldiers to communicate using natural language. The research team developed a natural language processing pipeline that interprets the intent of a Soldier's spoken language. The system will eventually have the ability to manage variation in spoken English. This will give the robots the ability to act on the intent of language, which will enable them to become more collaborative.
The algorithm-based learning system will also allow the robots to ask Soldiers questions to gain a better understanding of their environment. These questions will be based upon information from maps. This information will enable robots to make more autonomous decisions based on this information. The questions are intended to be tactically pertinent. These questions are focused on how robots will make decisions and what information Soldiers require. These questions were created to get feedback from Soldiers. To ensure that robots could identify maps relevant to tactical decisions, the Soldiers gave their feedback.
The Soldier-bot critical variant has a faster attack rate, and fires critical rockets faster than other Soldier-bot variants. These rockets are six times more destructive than regular rockets. The critical variant also has higher health and can mow down players without crit resistance.