The Navy’s problems are very human in nature. The solution is less human.
By Patrick Tucker; Defense One:
Among the recommendations offered in the U.S. Navy’s new review of the year’s warship-related mishaps are some that will help prepare the fleet for interaction with the autonomous vessels that will soon be crowding the seas.
For example: accelerate plans to upgrade today’s electronic navigation systems. Teach crewmen to use automatic identification systems to broadcast their location to nearby ships. Improve methods for human systems integration.
Virtually all ships are required to have an automatic identification system, or AIS, that can receive information about nearby ships (in passive mode) and send data about themselves (in active mode). The U.S. Navy rarely uses active mode, which broadcasts a ship’s own location. That’s changing as a result of this year’s collisions involving the USS Fitzgerald, McCain, and Lake Champlain.
To learn more about these robots visit Defense One.
