UNSW Sydney and CAE Australia to develop AI training methodology

The Adelaide and Canberra-based Defence Trailblazer has launched a research project with CAE Australia and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to develop a training methodology for Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled systems.

CAE Australia and UNSW will develop a training methodology for operators of autonomous systems, addressing a critical gap in the training of personnel that are deployed in distributed mission and joint operations. The project, in partnership with the Defence Trailblazer which is headed by the University of Adelaide and UNSW, will identify how to successfully learn to operate, command, and trust unmanned systems in a coalition environment. The research will cover fundamentals of flight and payload operations, mission planning and rehearsal. The project will also deliver a training needs analysis that can be implemented in future training programs involving single autonomous vehicles or swarms of them.

The Australian Department of Defence’s Robotics, Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence (RAS-AI) strategy emphasised the significance of Human Machine Teaming (HMT) for future operations, explained Associate Professor Nadine Marcus, School of Computer Science and Engineering, UNSW Sydney and Professor Hussein Abbass, School of Systems and Computing, UNSW Canberra. “Our goal is to produce a trusted training methodology for AI-Enabled HMT that can be adapted to different contexts, RAS-AI scenarios, human performance states, and user cognitive load levels.”

“The Defence Industry Development Strategy discussed the need for a new approach to innovation, and Defence Trailblazer really is trailblazing new techniques for Defence-industry-academic collaboration,” said Dr. Margaret Law, General Manager – Technology Development & Acceleration at Defence Trailblazer. “This research project, the second with CAE, demonstrates how to foster better collaboration between industry and our academic institutions.

“Our program pairs business development, project managers, chief investigators, and researchers to accelerate project design, governance, and security, ensuring defence needs are met with speed.”

”We are proud to work with UNSW to solve a fundamental need for a training solution that develops confidence and proficiency in human-machine teaming,” said Dr. Gary Eves, CAE Australia’s Principal Technology Officer. “Combining our expertise in science-based learning approaches and leveraging CAE’s world-leading training technology and systems, we can ensure that the training requirements and operational performance of students align with the requirements of programs that will rely on autonomous systems.”