{"612934":{"#nid":"612934","#data":{"type":"news","title":"DCL Seminar Series: Don Sofge","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAbstract:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAutonomous systems can provide the Navy with valuable information about mission environments. Teams of heterogeneous autonomous vehicles may provide enhanced capabilities for persistent ISR\u0026nbsp;and enhanced situational awareness for the warfighter while minimizing the risk to human life. \u0026nbsp;The objective of the MANTISS (Mobile Autonomous Navy Teams for Information Surveillance and\u0026nbsp;Search) effort is to apply information gathering algorithms for multi-agent autonomous teams to problems of Navy interest, leveraging bio-inspired techniques from ONR\u0026rsquo;s Science of Autonomy\u0026nbsp;program, NRL-developed swarm control (physicomimetics), and information theory. Our swarm dynamics projects explore the production of self-organized states in a system of communicating robots (miniature autonomous blimps) with mass and physical extent (area or volume) such that collisions\u0026nbsp;may occur. Specifically, we perform experiments to enable a formation of communicating robots to form a pattern maintained just by interacting communication rules. We study the effects of\u0026nbsp;variation of controlling parameters including mass, area, and communication with number of nearest neighbors on swarm dynamics and pattern formation as agents collide and are removed. All\u0026nbsp;collisions are considered catastrophic. Collisions may be reduced or avoided through use of a repulsion term between agents, but we confirm that this repulsion term affects the swarm dynamics\u0026nbsp;as well. Repulsion also affects the rate of attrition of swarm agents. We evaluate the effects on pattern formation and swarm dynamics of repulsion in combination with other previously\u0026nbsp;mentioned controlling parameters.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBio:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDon Sofge is a Computer Scientist and Roboticist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with 30 years of experience in Artificial Intelligence and Control Systems R\u0026amp;D. He has served as\u0026nbsp;PI or Co-PI on dozens of federally funded R\u0026amp;D programs, and has approximately 124 peer-reviewed publications on autonomy, intelligent control, quantum computing, and related topics, including\u0026nbsp;6 books, 10 book chapters, 25 journal articles, 65 conference papers, and one patent. Don leads the Distributed Autonomous Systems Group at NRL where he develops nature-inspired computing\u0026nbsp;solutions to challenging problems in sensing, artificial intelligence, and control of autonomous robotic systems. His current research focuses on control of autonomous teams or swarms of\u0026nbsp;robotic systems for Navy relevant missions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Autonomous Systems and Blimp Swarms at the Naval Research Laboratory (and how you can get involved)"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAutonomous Systems and Blimp Swarms at the Naval Research Laboratory (and how you can get involved)\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Autonomous Systems and Blimp Swarms at the Naval Research Laboratory (and how you can get involved)"}],"uid":"34840","created_gmt":"2018-10-17 22:22:54","changed_gmt":"2018-10-17 22:22:54","author":"mamstutz3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-09-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-09-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"612933":{"id":"612933","type":"image","title":"Don Sofge","body":null,"created":"1539814773","gmt_created":"2018-10-17 22:19:33","changed":"1539814773","gmt_changed":"2018-10-17 22:19:33","alt":"","file":{"fid":"233346","name":"DonSofge.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DonSofge.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/DonSofge.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":6933,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/DonSofge.jpg?itok=TrF1877V"}}},"media_ids":["612933"],"groups":[{"id":"66191","name":"Decision and Control Lab (DCL)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"179403","name":"DCL Seminar Series"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}