OUR SPEAKERS
Presented by:
Ross Eaton
Director of Marine Systems
and Principal Scientist
Extending Perception Capabilities to Adjacent Applications
Monday, May 19, 2025, 12:30–12:50 PM CDT
Location: 361 DEF – Implementation & Value Track
Session Code 2: XPO25-2174
Perception takes traditional sensing of the presence of objects in an operating environment to the next level. Incorporating context and understanding behaviors/patterns of life in the subject environment make perception a powerful enabling technology for autonomy in a variety of applications, from fairly static environments involving manufacturing robots to highly dynamic (and often harsh) environments typical of those in the maritime, ground, air, and space domains in which truly autonomous uncrewed vehicles are expected to operate. Advances in perception in one sector often push the state-of-the-art and spur further advances in other domains. We present a real-life story of the development of an EO/IR-based autonomous lookout system (highlighted by Popular Science as one of the 50 greatest inventions in 2023), originally conceived as a maritime perception-focused solution but that ultimately drove ground-breaking technology advances enabling applications across multiple other domains. If you are an end user/operator or an industry collaborator wondering how such advanced perception capabilities designed for other applications may also be able to drive growth and efficiencies in your own operations, this session provides a great opportunity to level up your impact and contribute to transformative new industry capabilities.
Presented by:
David Koelle
Director of Engineering and
Principal Software Engineer
Leveling up to Collaborative Autonomy
Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 1:30–1:50 PM CDT
Location: 351 DEF – Technical Research & Platform Development Track
Session Code 2: XPO25-2177
In today’s world, autonomy is almost universally focused on the operations of single vehicles. But with the development of increasingly capable platforms and the ubiquity of these autonomous solutions now operating across multiple domains (land, sea, air, and space), we turn our attention in this session to the next frontier — that of “collaborative autonomy,” i.e., the next-gen processes and mechanisms by which groups of vehicles (often including a heterogeneous mix of assets) coordinate with each other to achieve mission objectives. In this session, we will illuminate use cases across multiple industries in which collaborative autonomy will have a meaningful impact. We will discuss how successfully evolving collaborative autonomy is a key element in ultimately realizing the promise of autonomous systems toward operating effectively in conditions that are either undesirable or unsafe for humans, and present directions for the future growth of work in this area. If you are a developer of complementary enabling technology, a manufacturer of industrial or military equipment, or an operator with an interest in preparing your fleet of uncrewed assets for the years ahead, you will find this session helpful in guiding your own roadmap for integration of these truly transformative capabilities.
