04/18/12 — ARLINGTON, Va.— Navy unmanned aircraft will be able to distinguish small pirate boats from other vessels when an Office of Naval Research (ONR)-funded sensor starts airborne tests this summer, officials said April 5. Called the Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS), the sensor is a mix of high-definition cameras, mid-wave infrared sensors and laser-radar (LADAR) technology. It will be placed on a robotic helicopter called Fire Scout. Carrying advanced automatic target recognition software, the sensor prototype will allow Fire Scout to autonomously identify small boats on the water, reducing the workload of Sailors operating it from control stations aboard Navy ships. “Sailors…

02/12/10 — Using funding from the US Office of Naval Research, Autonomous Systems Laboratory of the University of Hawaii and its spin-off company, MASE, Inc., have developed SAUVIM, an underwater robot capable of performing autonomous navigation and manipulation. The first fully autonomous underwater manipulation in an unstructured environment was demonstrated at the Snug Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii on January 20, 2010. An underwater robot, SAUVIM (Semi-Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Intervention Missions), performed autonomous navigation and manipulation. This demonstration presented a technological breakthrough in the field as autonomous manipulation had been a bottleneck issue for underwater intervention missions. Witnesses of this live demonstration included…