Skip to main content

The US Army is using machine learning to predict when combat vehicles need repair

By
A soldier walks into the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle during training in Fort Riley, Kansas.

Keeping track of the mechanical health of millions of pieces of equipment is a big job for the Army. To help with this data-intensive work, it’s recruiting an AI assistant. Machine learning software developed by Chicago firm Uptake Technologies will be used to predict when vehicles will need repair, flagging problems to army mechanics before they become disastrous.

The pilot scheme will cover a few dozen armored infantry transports (Bradley M2A3s) deployed in active service. Sensors inside the vehicles’ engines record information like temperature and RPM, and transmit this to Uptake’s software. This uses machine learning to look for patterns in the data that match known engine failures in similar vehicles.

“Our platform is like a brain that collects signals from all these nerve endings [in the engine] and produces feedback,” Uptake’s VP of communications Abby Hunt tells The Verge. “Whether it’s the coolant running low or some other problem, we know we’ve seen this in other engines, and can tell someone that the transmission may fail in a week or two, for example.”

Uptake currently provides similar services in industrial settings, and has worked with clients including Caterpillar, Boeing, and Progress Rail. For Berkshire Hathaway Energy, its software is used to keep tabs on wind turbine maintenance — an important task for expensive turbines that are often situated in remote locations.

The company’s contract with the army is relatively small, worth just $1 million, but represents a step forward for the military’s use of AI. Some experts have criticized the US for failing to take full advantage of machine learning. Others have cautioned that the Army’s internal culture is hesitant to replace human expertise with machine. Uptake stressed that their system does not itself make any decisions, but simply highlights potential problem areas for humans to investigate.

Lt. Col. Chris Conley, product manager for the US Army’s Bradley vehicles, told The Washington Post that if the trial is successful, Uptake’s software could be used to track the entire Bradley fleet and even other combat vehicles. However, Conley was cautious: “I’m not convinced that this will be successful, but I’m really excited about the potential of it,” he said. “We’re doing a pilot test to verify their claims before we do anything at scale.”



from The Verge - Teches https://ift.tt/2lBWJbk
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to install Fortnite on Android

By
Epic Games launched its battle royale hit Fortnite on Android devices last week with a big catch: it was exclusive to Samsung-made phones for a few days as a way to help market the new Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Now, the exclusivity period appears to be over, and beta invite codes are going out to select users of non-Samsung phones like the Google Pixel 2 XL. If you’re itching to dive off the battle bus on mobile, you might have to hold on just a little while longer: there appears to be a waiting list, just like there was when the game launched on iOS. There’s also a bit of trickiness involving exactly how you get the app because Epic announced it would be distributing the Android version of Fortnite on its own terms . Last week, the app was distributed through Samsung’s app store, and Epic is using its own website and a Fortnite Installer program to distribute the game more widely on all compatible Android devices. (Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said this is basically to avoid paying Google...
Post a Comment
Read more

Apple’s Siri Shortcuts app now available for iOS 12

By
Apple is making Siri a lot more powerful in both iOS 12 and watchOS 5. Siri’s new Shortcuts feature is now available to download for iOS 12 users, and it allows iPhone and Apple Watch users to use Siri to step through multistep routines. Shortcuts replaces the previous Workflow app that Apple acquired last year, and is designed to allow you to create custom commands in Siri that launch apps or combine a number of actions in a similar way to IFTTT. You can do things like tell Siri you’re “watching a movie” and the digital assistant will switch your phone to do not disturb. A number of app developers are also launching their own custom Siri shortcuts with iOS 12, which will help the assistant display more information when you create a custom phrase. Citymapper is one of the first big apps with Siri shortcuts support, allowing you to create a shortcut to ask “when’s my next train” and get relevant updates and even platform information. You can download Siri Shortcuts from the App Sto...
Post a Comment
Read more