News and Events

EUROPA aims to help operators better control swarms in urban environments

Communicating Naturally with Machines: Charles River Analytics Develops Mixed Reality Interface to Help Warfighters Better Control Swarms

Charles River Analytics Inc., developer of intelligent systems solutions, has received funding from DARPA under the OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program to develop our Ecological User Interfaces for Rapid Operational Teaming with Autonomous Swarms (EUROPA) interface. EUROPA aims to help Operators better control swarms in urban operations by providing novel, multimodal user interfaces tailored to tactical operational environments.

“Currently, Operators are performing an extremely challenging task, especially in dynamic urban environments,” said Stephanie Kane, Senior Scientist at Charles River Analytics and Principal Investigator on the EUROPA effort. “Operators must quickly understand how the swarm’s current behavior relates to overall mission success, and accurately determine where to give additional direction. EUROPA is a new swarm interface concept designed to make Operator-drone teaming easier.”

“EUROPA includes advanced multimodal interfaces, such as visual augmented reality, body-worn haptics, and audio modalities,” added Dr. Michael Jenkins, Senior Scientist at Charles River. “These interfaces support novel gesture, speech, and gaze-based interactions, giving swarm tacticians a tailored approach to direct and team with swarms.”

EUROPA builds on our recent success under the OFFSET program. With Swarm Algorithms and Tactics for Urban Reconnaissance and Isolation (SATURN), we developed capabilities that give heterogeneous swarms of unlimited size resilient behavior while achieving mission objectives.

Our deep understanding of applied robotics and autonomy is the result of extensive research, and development across many disciplines, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, cognitive science, and human factors. Our decades of experience deploying our solutions into the field uniquely positions us to provide mature and tailored solutions for our customers’ needs.

Contact us to learn more about EUROPA or our other Unmanned Systems capabilities.


Distribution Statement “A”: Approved for public release, distribution unlimited.

Solutions to serve the warfighter, technology to serve the world®

Charles River Analytics brings foundational research to life, creating human-centered intelligent systems at the edge of what’s possible, through deep partnerships with our customers. 

To learn more about Charles River or our current projects and capabilities, contact us