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Smart Interaction Device for VTOL UAS

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Navy
Contract: N00014-11-M-0228
Agency Tracking Number: N111-070-0492
Amount: $79,866.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N111-070
Solicitation Number: 2011.1
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2011
Award Year: 2011
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2011-05-09
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
3600 Green Court Suite 600
Ann Arbor, MI -
United States
DUNS: 009485124
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Glenn Taylor
 Senior Scientist
 (734) 887-7620
 glenn@soartech.com
Business Contact
 Andrew Dallas
Title: VP, Federal Systems
Phone: (734) 887-7603
Email: contracts@soartech.com
Research Institution
 Stub
Abstract

Current Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) require a great deal of specialized training and experience to use effectively. Furthermore, their use is dominated by a paradigm of control in which a highly trained operator is giving very precise, low-level commands to a UAS. As UAS become more autonomous, they will require less control, but will instead require input from a range of users, including high-level directions or other kinds of mission-relevant information. However, current operator control units (OCUs) are stuck in the paradigm of explicit control. To take advantage of increasing autonomy and to broaden the range of users, new kinds of robust natural interfaces, including multiple modes of input and output, must be developed that allow users with various skill levels to interact with UAS in a variety of environments. SoarTech proposes to leverage prior work on a multi-modal interfaces for interacting with autonomous systems. We will extend this work to the VTOL UAS domain, making it robust to a range of user skill levels and experience, including multiple redundant forms of input and output that are appropriate to a range of environments in which forward deployed units need to interact with autonomous UAS.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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