<h2>Underwater Spies</h2>
As Russia, China, and the United States race to <a href="https://futurism.com/russian-submarine-launch-nuke-drones">build undetectable submarines</a> or underwater drones, scientists are recruiting some unlikely help to keep up.
A DARPA-funded program called Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors — adorably abbreviated to &#8220;PALS&#8221; — is developing a way to use the endless bubbling, snapping, and clicking of underwater shrimp as a sort of ubiquitous sonar, <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/03/22/pals-program-underwater-soundscape-darpa-drones-shrimp/#.XJkZKZhKhPZ">according to Discover Magazine</a>, which talked to Alison Laferriere, the project leader who works at defense contractor Raytheon BBN Technologies.
&#8220;The idea is that the sounds that the shrimp create would travel to the object, reflect off of it and we would be able to detect it at our sensors,&#8221; she told Discover.
<h2>Long Tail</h2>
Snapping shrimp can shut their claws so fast that it gives off a 190-decibel noise. Because the shrimp are so common, their snapping fills coastal areas with a sort of underwater white noise that could be used to spot enemy submarines or drones — or at least that&#8217;s DARPA&#8217;s idea.
&#8220;What we’re interested in, specifically, is monitoring the soundscape and determining if there&#8217;s a change in the soundscape in some way when an underwater vehicle passes through,&#8221; Laferriere said.
<h2>Jumbo Shrimp</h2>
Monitoring that underwater soundscape would only require that the military install listening devices — because the shrimp and other animals are making the noise, there&#8217;s no need to install a prohibitively-expensive network of sonar-generating devices as well, Discover reports
Of course, Laferriere&#8217;s team doesn&#8217;t yet know what a military drone would look like to a sonar detector — she&#8217;s still working in a lab setting with tanks of snapping shrimp. But if all goes well, PALS will travel to the Virgin Islands to start recording and analyzing oceanic noise later this year.
READ MORE: <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/03/22/pals-program-underwater-soundscape-darpa-drones-shrimp/">DARPA’s Newest Drone Submarine Detection Device: Snapping Shrimp</a> [Discover Magazine]
More on sonar: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/underwater-communication-wireless">Underwater and Airborne Craft Can Now Communicate Directly and Wirelessly</a>

"The idea is that the sounds that the shrimp create would travel to the object, reflect off of it and we would be able to detect it at our sensors."

DARPA wants to use noisy shrimp to detect enemy subs

Cocktail Sauce

DARPA funded a research project that wants to use the noise given off by snapping shrimp and other sea life as ubiquitous sonar.

DARPA Wants to Use Noisy Shrimp to Detect Enemy Subs

Underwater white noise could serve as natural sonar.

<h2>Cracking Down</h2>
Voting booths are <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/us-election-system-children-hack">notoriously buggy</a>. Whether they&#8217;ve been actively hacked or just improperly calibrated, every election season is rife with complaints that machines misrecorded ballots or that an election has been compromised by hackers.
To prevent us from having to take a technological step backwards to paper ballots, U.S. Department of Defense&#8217;s research division DARPA is working with cybersecurity firm Galois to develop open source voting machine technology that would let people verify that their votes were tallied correctly, <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yw84q7/darpa-is-building-a-dollar10-million-open-source-secure-voting-system">according to Motherboard</a>.
<h2>Open Source</h2>
The ultimate goal isn&#8217;t to sell machines, but to develop tech that would beef up existing voting machine vendors&#8217; security.
&#8220;We will not have a voting system that we can deploy. That’s not what we do,” Linton Salmon, the DARPA scientist managing the project, told Motherboard. &#8220;We will show a methodology that could be used by others to build a voting system that is completely secure.&#8221;
<h2>Kicking The Tires</h2>
To make sure that any new voting machines built with DARPA software are actually better than today&#8217;s, the plan is to invite experts ranging from academic computer scientists to hackers to test it out and search for vulnerabilities, according to Motherboard.
One way that the new system might improve upon others is by printing out a sheet showing a voter&#8217;s selections so that they can look it over before feeding it into a separate machine that will actually record the vote.
&#8220;That receipt does not permit you to prove anything about how you voted, but does permit you to prove that the system accurately captured your intent and your vote is in the final tally,&#8221; Galois principal scientist Joe Kiniry told Motherboard.
READ MORE: <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yw84q7/darpa-is-building-a-dollar10-million-open-source-secure-voting-system">DARPA Is Building a $10 Million, Open Source, Secure Voting System</a> [Motherboard]
More on election security: <a href="https://futurism.com/digital-voting-election-fraud">Could Digital Voting Create a Society That Is Truly Governed by the People?</a>

Voters would be able to verify that the machine actually read their votes correctly.

DARPA is building an open source voting machine

Hanging Chads

DARPA is developing technology that could finally lead to secure voting machines. It plans to have experts from professors to hackers kick the tires.

DARPA Is Building an Open Source Voting Machine

The goal is to make elections secure without reverting to paper ballots.

<h2>Mach 5 Missiles</h2>
Defense contractor Raytheon <a href="http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/2019-03-05-Raytheon-wins-63-3-million-DARPA-contract-for-hypersonic-weapons-work">just signed</a> a $63.3 million contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a &#8220;tactical boost glide&#8221; (TBG) hypersonic weapons program.
The weapon system could reach hypersonic speeds of up to five times the sound barrier thanks to a rocket engine. A payload will then glide the rest of the way to the intended target — completely unpowered, without the ability to accelerate again. But operators will be able to maneuver it from a distance.
&#8220;We have lost our technical advantage in hypersonics,&#8221; Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/it-networks/2019/03/05/darpa-signs-raytheon-up-for-work-on-hypersonics/">told the Military Times</a> — perhaps a nod to the fact that hypersonic weapons are already being developed and even tested by both <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/05/russias-new-missiles-are-aimed-at-you-weapons-hypersonic-putin-united-states-inf/">Russia</a> and <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a26015499/china-hypersonic-missiles-sink-us-aircraft-carriers/">China</a>.
<h2>Enhanced Effectiveness</h2>
The TBG system could &#8220;offer the potential for military operations from longer ranges with shorter response times and enhanced effectiveness compared to current military systems,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.darpa.mil/program/tactical-boost-glide">DARPA&#8217;s website</a>.
In October 2016, Raytheon signed a separate $174.7 million contract with DARPA for the development of a <a href="https://www.darpa.mil/program/hypersonic-air-breathing-weapon-concept">&#8220;Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon&#8221;</a> concept to explore the possibility of an &#8220;air-launched hypersonic cruise missile,&#8221; according to DARPA. It was also meant to offer military operations a longer range for future missions with shorter response times.
<h2>Going Hypersonic</h2>
Previous DARPA projects have explored very similar concepts. For instance, the Falcon (Force Application and Launch from Continental United States) <a href="https://futurism.com/20027">Hypersoncic Technology Vehicle</a> (HTV) was an unmanned military aircraft prototype that was first announced in 2003. A second iteration, the HTV-2, first embarked on a test flights in April 2010, but the mission had to be <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/22/test-vehicles-flameout-may-end-space-weapon-plan/">cut short</a> when the vehicle lost ground contact.
But the U.S. command is far from giving up.
&#8220;We haven’t lost the hypersonics fight,&#8221; Selva told the Military Times.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/it-networks/2019/03/05/darpa-signs-raytheon-up-for-work-on-hypersonics/">DARPA inks a contract for hypersonic weapon research</a> [Military Times]
More on hypersonic weapons: <a href="https://futurism.com/pentagon-darpa-intercepting-hypersonic-nukes">The Pentagon Needs Help Intercepting “Hypersonic” Nukes</a>

The system promises longer range and shorter response times.

US military to develop hypersonic "tactical boost glide" weapon

Tactical Boost Glide

U.S. defense contractor Raytheon just signed a $63.3 million contract with DARPA to develop a "tactical boost glide" (TBG) hypersonic weapons program.

US Military to Develop Hypersonic “Tactical Boost Glide” Weapon

The awe-inspiring missile would deliver deadly payloads at five times the speed of sound.

<h2>Insect Brains</h2>
The Pentagon&#8217;s emerging technologies unit <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&amp;mode=form&amp;id=5fdb0522f0667e24e19274519b8ef011&amp;tab=core&amp;_cview=0">put out a call</a> last week for proposals that use insect brains to control robots — because they could be used to create efficient new models for artificial intelligence, but also because they could be used to explore the meaning of consciousness.
&#8220;Nature has forced on these small insects drastic miniaturization and energy efficiency, some having only a few hundred neurons in a compact form-factor, while maintaining basic functionality,&#8221; reads <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=bb2722b7974765cc9f4e93fea8efbacf">a document</a> in the proposal. &#8220;Furthermore, these organisms are possibly able to display increased subjectivity of experience.&#8221; It goes on to say that there&#8217;s evidence suggesting that &#8220;even small insects have subjective experiences, the first step towards a concept of &#8216;consciousness.'&#8221;
<h2>Bug Hunt</h2>
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is famed for funding projects that <a href="https://qz.com/860873/a-1973-map-of-the-internet-charted-by-darpa/">led to the early internet</a>. But it&#8217;s also a well-funded research arm for the U.S. military — and one of its key areas of interest, according to a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/the-pentagon-wants-to-weaponize-the-brain-what-could-go-wrong/570841/">riveting Atlantic feature</a> this past autumn, is to create brain-computer interfaces that can &#8220;program soldiers&#8217; brains.&#8221;
The feature suggested broad interest at DARPA in technologies that bridge the gap between computers and the brains of humans and animals.
&#8220;They could inject memory using the precise neural codes for certain skills,&#8221; Justin Sanchez, who directs work at DARPA about research on healing the mind and body, told the magazine about a project that had transplanted memories into the brains of rats. &#8220;If I know the neural codes in one individual, could I give that neural code to another person? I think you could.&#8221;
<h2>Moon Shot</h2>
DARPA is offering $1 million to the company it awards the insect brain proposal to. First the winning bidder will need to complete a feasibility study on mapping an insect&#8217;s central intelligence system. Then it will need to create a &#8220;proof of concept&#8221; platform that uses the insect brain architecture to create &#8220;more capable AI hardware.&#8221;
It sounds like a long shot — at least for now. But it&#8217;s another sign that DARPA is deeply interested in the mysteries of cognition and consciousness.
<div>
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a25849798/darpa-insect-brain-ai-machine-learning/">DARPA Wants to Turn Insect Brains into Robot Brains</a> [Popular Science]
</div>
<div>
More on insect brains: <a href="https://futurism.com/a-new-brain-interface-device-lets-you-control-animals-with-your-thoughts">A New Brain-Interface Device Lets You Control Animals With Your Thoughts</a>
</div>

"Even small insects have subjective experiences, the first step towards a concept of 'consciousness.'"

DARPA wants to build conscious robots using insect brains

Enhanced Humans

The Pentagon's emerging technologies unit put out a call last week for proposals that use insect brains to control robots.

DARPA Wants to Build Conscious Robots Using Insect Brains

The Pentagon thinks bugs could hold the secrets to conscious experience.

<h2>Last Mile Delivery</h2>
What does an autonomous delivery bot do when it encounters a set of stairs in its path?
Automotive corporation Continental <a href="https://www.continental-corporation.com/en/press/press-releases/ces2019-157096">teamed up with startup ANYbotics</a> to combine the mobility of a four-legged, Boston Dynamics-style robot dog with an autonomous delivery vehicle. The result, which it showed off in a <a href="https://twitter.com/sokane1/status/1083436778353127426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1083436778353127426&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2019%2F1%2F10%2F18176856%2Frobot-dog-package-delivery-continental-demo-ces-2019">live demo</a> at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, comes across either as a &#8220;Black Mirror&#8221; episode — or a vision of the future of delivery.
<h2>Robot Dogs with Jobs</h2>
The concept is an unusual one: an autonomous vehicle pulls up to an address and spits out one or more (the press release isn&#8217;t entirely clear) smaller quadripedal robot dogs, which ANYbotics calls &#8220;ANYmals,&#8221; to complete the delivery. During a live demo, the robot dogs climbed stairs and even rang a doorbell.
The idea is to find a solution for &#8220;urban &#8216;first or last mile&#8217; mobility&#8221; to extend delivery &#8220;right to your doorstep,&#8221; according to a <a href="https://www.continental-corporation.com/en/press/press-releases/ces2019-157096">Continental press release</a>. The company says deliveries could be made around the clock, even when &#8220;many people are working, at school or otherwise occupied.&#8221;
<h2>A Distant Future</h2>
This tech is probably still many years out. We haven&#8217;t even figured out if we&#8217;re <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/san-francisco-just-put-the-brakes-on-delivery-robots/">willing to share public sidewalks</a> with tiny wheeled delivery vehicles yet. One such delivery vehicle even <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/delivery-robot-caught-fire-california">burst into flames</a> in California last month.
Companies like Boston Dynamics have made major strides in four-legged robots that can complete a range of tasks, from climbing steep hills, to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve9kWX_KXus">mapping complex environments</a>.
If those types of advancements can be used to drop off meals or parcels, it could revolutionize the delivery industry.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/10/18176856/robot-dog-package-delivery-continental-demo-ces-2019">Robot dogs are the weirdest package delivery system we’ve seen</a> [The Verge]
More on autonomous delivery vehicles: <a href="https://futurism.com/kroger-nuro-grocery-chain-autonomous-delivery-r1">US Grocer Kroger Has Begun Making Autonomous Deliveries</a>

It's either a "Black Mirror" episode or a future Amazon product.

New robot dogs can deliver your lunch right to your desk

Robot Dogs with Jobs

Continental came up with a vision of the future of delivery that involves robot dogs climbing stairs and ringing doorbells.

New Robot Dogs Can Deliver Your Lunch Right to Your Desk

When the dog becomes the mailman.

<h2>Fake News</h2>
DARPA, the U.S. military’s research division, is hell-bent on fighting high-tech forgeries. In the past two years, it’s spent $68 million on digital forensics technology to flag them.
For DARPA, spotting and countering &#8220;deepfakes&#8221; — doctored images and videos that can be used to generate propaganda and deceptive media like <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-can-now-manipulate-peoples-movements-in-fake-videos">fictionalized political speeches or pornography</a> — is a <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/fighting-fake-images-military-1.4905775">matter of national security, reports</a> the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
<h2>Losing Battle</h2>
For all of its hard work to spot edited videos, DARPA may still be fighting a losing battle. That&#8217;s according to Hany Farid, a computer scientist and digital forensics expert at Dartmouth College.
&#8220;The adversary will always win, you will always be able to create a compelling fake image, or video, but the ability to do that if we are successful on the forensics side is going to take more time, more effort, more skill and more risk,” Farid told the CBC.
The CBC acquired some videos and images of DARPA’s deepfake-spotting artificial intelligence in action and it’s not the most impressive highlight reel.
In one, the algorithm is able to go frame-by-frame to spot discrepancies. This is an impressive feat for an automated system, but the video in question is clearly edited — it’s nowhere near as sophisticated as the <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/lawmakers-deepfakes-undermine-public-trust">most advanced deepfakes</a> out there, which can imitate a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/deepfakes-translation-tech-synthesia">real person’s voice</a> and facial expressions.
<iframe frameborder="0" height="404" src="//www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?mediaId=1372526659778" width="718"></iframe>
<h2>Putting a Finger on it</h2>
Other examples obtained by CBC showed off DARPA’s algorithm spotting inconsistencies in lighting and other subtle cues that give away a doctored video.
People who want to create misleading deepfakes may always be a step ahead of the people trying to stop them, but DARPA’s digital forensics program still has another two years of research ahead of it.
As long as they stay on top of new deepfake techniques and keep their algorithms on the cutting edge, they may be able to spot all but the most advanced, high-budget and high-tech productions.
That way, when a video of Donald Trump announcing a nuclear strike plunges the world into the apocalypse, we’ll at least know it was the real thing.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/fighting-fake-images-military-1.4905775">A new &#8216;arms race&#8217;: How the U.S. military is spending millions to fight fake images</a> [CBC]
More on DARPA’s deepfake research: <a href="https://futurism.com/darpa-stop-deepfakes-facebook-google">If DARPA Wants To Stop Deepfakes, They Should Talk To Facebook And Google</a>

But the deceptive videos will always be one step ahead.

DARPA spent $68 million on technology to spot deepfakes

Seems Legit

DARPA spent $68 million over two years on deepfake-spotting AI. It's making progress, but the government might be fighting a losing battle.

DARPA Spent $68 Million on Technology to Spot Deepfakes

New military algorithms can tell whether a video was doctored, but DARPA think it’s losing the fight.

<h2>What Goes Up&#8230;</h2>
Stratospheric balloons are exactly what they sound like: balloons that sit in the stratosphere, the layer of Earth&#8217;s atmosphere that begins roughly 60,000 feet above its surface.
NASA first began experimenting with the devices in the 1950s, and they&#8217;re very useful — we now use them to do everything from <a href="https://www.weather.gov/bmx/kidscorner_weatherballoons" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monitoring the weather</a> to <a href="https://futurism.com/google-project-loon-puerto-rico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivering internet access</a>.
The problem with stratospheric balloons is that neither NASA nor anyone else has been able to figure out how to keep them in one spot for more than a few days at a time — the stratosphere&#8217;s winds blow them around in ways scientists still haven&#8217;t learned to predict. Not yet, anyways.
<h2>At a Standstill</h2>
As part of its Adaptable Lighter-Than-Air (ALTA) balloon program, DARPA — the U.S. Department of Defense&#8217;s tech research agency — is currently <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612417/darpa-is-testing-stratospheric-balloons-that-ride-the-wind-so-they-never-have-to-come-down/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testing a sensor called Strat-OAWL</a>, which stands for &#8220;stratospheric optical autocovariance wind lidar.&#8221; The idea is to use lasers to deduce the speed and direction of wind gusting far away from a stratospheric balloon.
It does this by shining laser pulses in two directions. Some of that laser light then reflects off the air, returning to the sensor unit, which analyzes its wavelength. Changes in the wavelength allow Strat-OAWL to determine the speed of the air that reflected the light, as well as the direction in which it&#8217;s moving.
The stratospheric balloon can then adjust its altitude to wherever a wind is blowing in the direction it wants to move, ensuring it can remain in one area indefinitely.
<h2>Eyes In Space</h2>
It&#8217;s hard to predict how the U.S. military might make use of a stratospheric balloon that never moves, and ALTA project manager Alex Walan <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612417/darpa-is-testing-stratospheric-balloons-that-ride-the-wind-so-they-never-have-to-come-down/">told the MIT Technology Review</a> he couldn&#8217;t discuss the tech&#8217;s military role. However, U.S. military officials have previously expressed interest in the idea of using stratospheric balloons for surveillance operations.
In 2017, U.S. Navy Admiral Kurt Tidd <a href="https://spacenews.com/south-america-can-be-geoint-experiment-lab-military-leader-says/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted during a geospatial intelligence symposium</a> that the military believed stratospheric balloons could have some &#8220;interesting applications&#8221; if capable of remaining airborne for 180 days or longer.
&#8220;We think this has the potential to be a game changer for us, a great, long-duration, long-dwell surveillance platform,” Tidd said at the time.
And if DARPA&#8217;s sensor works as hopes, that surveillance platform could be lurking on the edge of space before we know it.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612417/darpa-is-testing-stratospheric-balloons-that-ride-the-wind-so-they-never-have-to-come-down/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The US Military Is Testing Stratospheric Balloons That Ride the Wind so They Never Have to Come Down</a> [MIT Technology Review]
More on stratospheric balloons: <a href="https://futurism.com/google-project-loon-puerto-rico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google’s Internet-Beaming Balloons Will Soon Be Floating Over Puerto Rico</a>

The military could soon have a new surveillance platform.

DARPA's balloons could hover at the edge of space indefinitely

High Flying

DARPA is testing a sensor that would allow stratospheric balloons to remain in one place, possibly leading to a new military surveillance platform.

DARPA’s Balloons Could Hover at the Edge of Space Indefinitely

The agency is using lasers to keep its balloons in one place.

<h2>No Dumb Ideas!</h2>
By 2020, the Russian military claims it will have <a href="https://futurism.com/4-things-russias-new-weapons">nuclear missiles</a> capable of gliding across the upper atmosphere — too low for most satellite detection systems — before <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1025166/ww3-news-us-glide-breaker-hypersonic-weapon-defence-program-russia">plummeting back to Earth</a> at 20 times the speed of sound.
This puts the rest of the world in a pickle because there’s no good way to stop these hypersonic weapons. So last week, according to <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/darpa-looking-way-shoot-down-hypersonic-weapons-35942">The National Interest</a>, DARPA put out a call for proposals for <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&amp;mode=form&amp;id=ba100893931fb47264d09521173f7435&amp;tab=core&amp;_cview=0">Project Glide Breaker</a> — an initiative it hopes will result in an interceptor capable of stopping <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/hypersonic-jet-boeing">hypersonic missiles and vehicles</a>.
<h2>Space Needle</h2>
These plans to build an interceptor capable of stopping a hypersonic weapon seem far-fetched. As Kelsey Atherton <a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/drones-arent-fucking-magic-people/">wrote for Task &amp; Purpose</a>, there has yet to be a single missile defense system that succeeded without being seriously rigged.
That aligns with The National Interest’s reporting, which suggests that it would cost far too much to effectively shield the U.S. in this way. Rather, the best bet for Project Glide Breaker would be just effective enough to deter attacks by blocking just enough missiles that an adversary wouldn’t be able to reliably count on any one given missile reaching its target.
<h2>Use Your Words</h2>
All of this is to prepare for an all-out war, nuclear or otherwise, that hasn&#8217;t happened yet.
While it&#8217;d be nice to have a shield in the event that such a conflict arose, there&#8217;s a world of difference between a country maybe someday building a weapon against which it is difficult to defend and ever expecting that weapon to be used. Right now, we’re far away from the latter.
READ MORE: <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/darpa-looking-way-shoot-down-hypersonic-weapons-35942">DARPA Is Looking for a Way To Shoot Down Hypersonic Weapons</a> [The National Interest]
More on avoidable warfare: <a href="https://futurism.com/ai-could-start-a-nuclear-war-but-thats-only-if-we-put-ai-in-charge-of-starting-nuclear-war">AI Could Start A Nuclear War. But Only If We Let AI Start A Nuclear War</a>

Have you ever tried to hit a bird with a rock? Imagine that, but even harder.

The Pentagon needs help intercepting "hypersonic" nukes

Freedom Fighters

DARPA hopes to find a way to counter Russia's missiles that can allegedly travel 20 times the speed of sound. It won't be easy.

The Pentagon Needs Help Intercepting “Hypersonic” Nukes

The military’s research division just put out a call for project ideas.

<h2>Idiot-Proof</h2>
Helicopters are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/08/last-word-on-helicopters-v-airplanes-for-now/23164/">notoriously tricky to fly</a>, but Lockheed Martin and DARPA modified a commercial helicopter so that a person off the street can fly it with just 45 minutes of training.
<h2>Trinity</h2>
In a probable nod to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AOpomu9V6Q">that scene</a> in The Matrix when Tank downloads instructions for flying a helicopter directly into Trinity&#8217;s brain, Lockheed and DARPA call the new system MATRIX. It doesn&#8217;t interface with the human mind, but it reportedly makes flying a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter so straightforward that pretty much anyone can do it.
You can use a tablet screen to give instructions to DARPA&#8217;s idiot-proof helicopter, which uses LIDAR and cameras to take off, land, avoid obstacles, and follow directions. During test flights in Virginia, trained pilots stayed in the DARPA helicopter in case there was a safety issue — but they never had to take over, <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2018/10/darpa-army-test-optionally-manned-helicopter-its-not-ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Breaking Defense</a>.
<h2>Flight Risk</h2>
We&#8217;ve <a href="https://futurism.com/darpas-autonomous-system-can-fly-and-land-a-helicopter-with-just-a-tablet">reported previously</a> on DARPA&#8217;s efforts to build a helicopter that a pilot could fly with a tablet, but the system in this DARPA helicopter is so straightforward that people with no previous training as pilots can fly it.
Lockheed and DARPA are now <a href="https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2018-10-29-U-S-Army-Pilots-Fly-Autonomous-Sikorsky-Helicopter-in-First-of-its-Kind-Demonstration">working to install the same tech</a> in a Black Hawk helicopter, a military standby also manufactured by the Lockheed-owned Sikorsky.
Helicopter pilots take note: Robots are coming for your jobs, too.
READ MORE: <a href="https://breakingdefense.com/2018/10/darpa-army-test-optionally-manned-helicopter-its-not-ai/">DARPA, Army Test Optionally Manned Helicopter (It’s Not A.I.)</a> [Breaking Defense]
More on DARPA&#8217;s autonomous helicopter research: <a href="https://futurism.com/darpas-autonomous-system-can-fly-and-land-a-helicopter-with-just-a-tablet">DARPA’s Autonomous System Can Fly and Land a Helicopter with Just a Tablet</a>

Now they're installing the same system in a Black Hawk.

You can fly DARPA's idiot-proof helicopter with 45 mins of training

Get to the Choppa

You can use a tablet screen to give instructions to this DARPA helicopter, which uses LIDAR and cameras to take off, land and avoid obstacles.

You Can Fly DARPA’s Idiot-Proof Helicopter With 45 Mins of Training

You literally give it flight instructions on a tablet.

<h2>UNDERSCAPE</h2>
The U.S. military’s research agency wants help navigating the subterranean world. And since it doesn’t look like a ragtag team of sewer-dwelling mutant turtles will be enlisting in the armed forces any time soon, the agency is turning to the next best option: engineers.
Last week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/darpa-goes-underground-for-its-most-daring-robot-extravaganza-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> six teams of roboticists that will compete in its Subterranean Challenge, a multi-year <a href="https://www.subtchallenge.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">competition</a> with $2.75 million up for grabs. Each team will receive funding to create robots that can map, navigate, and search complex underground environments, such as man-made tunnels, natural cave systems, and subterranean urban infrastructure.
<h2>TWO TRACKS</h2>
The teams can choose to compete in just one of two tracks — systems or virtual — or both.
For the systems track, a team will create robots it can demonstrate on a physical course. Some of the spaces on this course may be barely large enough for a human to navigate, while others could be big enough for an all-terrain vehicle.
For the virtual track, a team will need to create the software for subterranean robots and demonstrate it in a simulated environment boasting a wider range of scenarios than in the physical tests.
<h2>DEEP UNDERGROUND</h2>
In any case, the teams must be ready to compete in the first of DARPA&#8217;s tests in the fall of 2019. After a final competition in the fall of 2021, DARPA will award the winner of the systems track $2 million and the winner of the virtual track $750,000. The competition&#8217;s judges will place a premium on autonomy, since communicating with robots while they&#8217;re deep underground can be difficult.
Perhaps more important than earning the big payout, though, these teams of roboticists could help the military save lives if the U.S. ever finds itself in a situation like the <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-thai-cave-rescue-trapped-engineers">daring rescue of children</a> from a Thai cave earlier this year. We&#8217;d like to see mutant turtles manage that.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.theengineer.co.uk/tunnels-caves-cmu-darpa-robots/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&amp;utm_campaign=111710858a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_09_28_11_03&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_997ed6f472-111710858a-156659857">Modular Robots Being Developed to Navigate Tunnels and Caves</a> [The Engineer]
More on cave rescues: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-thai-cave-rescue-trapped-engineers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk Is Sending a Team of Engineers to Help Rescue Trapped Thai Boys</a>

Since no mutant turtles seem to be enlisting, engineers are coming up with the next best thing.

The military wants autonomous robots that can explore tunnels barely large enough to fit a human

Bot Cave

Thought it's Subterranean Challenge, DARPA is asking teams of roboticists to create autonomous robots that can navigate underground environments.

/Darpa