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Anonymous ID: 218229 Aug. 15, 2021, 4:17 p.m. No.14362654   🗄️.is đź”—kun

https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status/1426936721900548096

 

DOD, Israel Host Indoor Autonomous Maneuver Technologies Challenge

 

AUG. 11, 2021 | BY DAVID VERGUN, DOD NEWS

 

The Defense Department, the Israel Defense Ministry and the Merage Institute are holding a Mobile Standoff Autonomous Indoor Capabilities, or MoSAIC, challenge to advance innovative technological solutions for remote, autonomous indoor maneuver.

The MoSAIC challenge is divided into five mini-challenges, three of them virtual challenges and two of them physical challenges that include: indoor navigation, room mapping, human/object tagging, tactical robotic systems, and human presence detection, which is also known as through-wall imaging.

 

A graphic shows a target superimposed on an eye.

Prizes will be awarded to winners and runners up in each of the categories. The MoSAIC challenge application process, which began June 24 and runs until Sept. 23, will award cash and other prizes totaling $600,000 to startups and innovators worldwide who produce the best solutions.

 

The MoSAIC challenge is part of a memorandum of agreement between the U.S. DOD's Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate, or IWTSD, and IMOD's Directorate of Defense Research and Engineering, or DDR&D. It's important to note that IWTSD is part of the Assistant Secretary of Defense and Low-Intensity Conflict organization.

 

"The U.S. Defense Department realized many years ago that groundbreaking innovations were happening outside the government laboratories and traditional prime contractors," said Adam Tarsi, international program manager for IWTSD.

 

An unmanned aerial vehicle.

"We are sponsoring the MoSAIC challenge, together with our IMOD/DDR&D partners, to ensure we are illuminating all relevant technologies that provide our military and law enforcement tactical operators with every possible technological advantage when operating in challenging and high-risk indoor environments. We are leveraging the Merage Institute's vast network to broaden the pool of solvers and reward demonstrated successes in order to expedite the delivery of capabilities to our operational end users," he said.

 

Spotlight: Science and Technology

Tarsi said he expects to see some innovative use of artificial intelligence, small multi-rotor drones and tactical ground vehicles that can successfully negotiate complex obstacles as might be found in tunnels or collapsed structures.

 

DOD has successfully held similar challenges in the last few years, with some of the experimental devices, hardware and software incorporated into systems that now or in the future will aid the warfighters with overcoming capability gaps, he said.

 

At this year's challenge, Tarsi said that DOD would likely be interested in many of the projects that don't ultimately receive prizes and that there could be a productive collaboration between those innovators and the department.