During our coverage of last year’s Land Forces exhibition in Brisbane, Australia we mentioned the Australian Defence Force’s Robotic & Autonomous Systems Implementation & Coordination Office (RICO) which they are using to shape their ground robotics requirements.
Working in concert with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Defence Science and Technology Group, the RICO team has sent $1.2 million in research funding through the Defence Innovation Hub.
The investment is oaying off. One of their efforts is the exploration of brain-computer interfaces and their tactical applications. The result is a demonstration of using the operator’s brainwave to issue commands to a Ghost Robotics Vision 60 QUGV rather than through a control console.
The operator wears a HoloLens to view waypoints in Augmented Reality. They use a biosensor at the back of the operator’s head to detect corresponding brainwaves from the visual cortex which signals an amplification circuit. An artificial intelligence decoder then translates the signal into commands which are sent to the Vision 60 Quadruped.
The HoloLens also allows the operator to view the Vision 60’s cameras.
To watch a video demomstrating the capability, go here.
ADF photo by Sergeant Matthew Bickerton