The Crusher combat robot vehicle rolls over a car on a test range last month at White Sands Missle Range in New Mexico (Defense Armed Research Projects Agency/CMU)
The Army plans to set up headquarters for its new Artificial Intelligence Task Force on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University, a defense-related publication reports.
Speaking last week in Detroit, Gen. John “Mike” Murray announced the move involving its month-old task force, according to the online report in Breaking Defense, a defense trade publication. The report said he is the task force’s commander, and it noted that a colonel already is working out of CMU’s National Robotics Engineering Center.
The report said Gen. Murray intends to utilize the university “as a hub to reach out to academia and civilian industry . . . as well as coordinating existing Army AI efforts, starting new experiments, and reforming bureaucratic policies that impede innovation.”
The publication characterized it as an effort to reach beyond its traditional military installations and defense contractors.
“Carnegie Mellon in particular has a long history with the military, having developed the most successful robot (a modified Humvee) for the DARPA Grand Challenge and a robotic mini-tank for the Army’s cancelled Future Combat Systems,” the publication stated.
It noted the school’s standing as a civilian educator and its ties to other universities and leading companies.
“So besides being a valuable source of AI and robotics expertise itself, CMU can help connect the Army to a much wider world that it has struggled to connect with — a world where many key players, such as Google, have outright refused to work directly with the military,’ the publication stated.
The report did not discuss dollar commitment by the military.
A spokesman for CMU did not immediately comment.
Bill Schackner: bschackner@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1977 and on Twitter: @Bill Schackner