The Deputy Chief of the Air Force, AVM Gavin Turnbull, stated in the Jericho At the Edge Magazine:
"We will seek to develop augmented intelligence that combines the strengths of humans and machines to create a human edge in the Information Age. Augmented intelligence is the Air Force·s way of leveraging our unique attributes as a small force equipped with sophisticated technology operated by high quality people."
Kelpie® is AOS’s revolutionary new autonomous vehicle, designed to support the Air Force on its bases, delivering supplies and spare parts, while doubling up as a “guard”, able to be autonomously deployed to investigate and report on potential intrusions into the base.
Kelpie® is a manifestation of the Deputy Chief’s strategy, and is funded by Plan Jericho, the RAAF’s innovation organisation. Electrically with autonomous navigation capability, and operates off road.
It hosts EyeSight™ intelligent intruder tracking system developed by AOS, that autonomously classifies and tracks to facilitate facial recognition.
Kelpie® is being developed by AOS in collaboration with Army’s Special Forces Training Facility and the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision, with funding from RAAF Plan Jericho.
Following are the main features of the Kelpie® vehicle:
- Low cost, using standard structural, mechanical components and battery/electric drive
- Collision detection and avoidance system using LiDAR, cameras and (optional) radar
- Designed for 80kph speeds
- Payload of up to 100kg
- Onboard PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) video camera capable of streaming live video
- Unique intelligent software agent technology, combined with machine learning and machine vision underpins the autonomous capability
- Teamed software agents allow multiple Kelpie® vehicles to work as a team with humans
- Production release 2020
