The U.S. Air Force's research organization and the U.K.'s defense science and technology laboratory are set to conduct the final round of a collaborative challenge that features autonomous artificial intelligence agents designed to control small drone swarms and compete against each other in a simulated game of capture the flag.
The 2021 Swarm and Search AI Challenge kicked off in early May and is scheduled to culminate with a single-elimination event among five teams on Friday, the Air Force Research Laboratory said Tuesday.
For the showcase event, finalists will present technical approaches they used to win the head-to-head matches using AI algorithms.
“The goal of this annual challenge is to attract the best and brightest minds to solve autonomy and AI problems and to spark innovation," said Mick Hitchcock, AFRL’s program manager for the Swarm and Search Capture the Flag Challenge.
Hitchcock noted that the event seeks to highlight collaboration among AFRL, DstL, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and participants from the small business community.
“It’s all about the power of these groups coming together on a common problem and generating innovative ideas that can yield real-world solutions.”
GTRI built a multiagent simulation platform for the competition, while developers trained AI agents on speed, stealth, attack and defense strategies.