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DARPAMINDSEYEPROGRAMINDUSTRYDAYANNOUNCEMENT-MARCH 15,2010 2

DARPAMINDSEYEPROGRAM

INDUSTRYDAYANNOUNCEMENT

DARPASN1034

INTRODUCTION

TheDefense

Advanced

Research

Projects

Agency

(DARPA)

will

conduct

abriefing

to

Industry,

on

April20,2010,insupportoftheanticipatedMindsEyeprogramBroadAgencyAnnouncement

(BAA). Thisannouncementservesasapresolicitationnoticeandisissuedsolelyfor

informationandprogramplanningpurposes. Whenreleased,theBAAwillbefoundonthe

FedBizOppswebsite,http://www.fedbizopps.gov.

EVENTOVERVIEW

TheMindsEyeprogramseekstodevelopinmachinesacapabilitythatcurrentlyexistsonlyin

animals:visualintelligence. Humansinparticularperformawiderangeofvisualtaskswithease,whichnocurrentartificialintelligencecandoinarobustway. Humanshaveinherently

strongspatial

judgment

and

are

able

to

learn

new

spatiotemporal

concepts

directly

from

the

visualexperience. Humanscanvisualizescenesandobjects,aswellastheactionsinvolving

thoseobjects. Humanspossessapowerfulabilitytomanipulatethoseimaginedscenes

mentallytosolveproblems. Amachinebasedimplementationofsuchabilitieswouldbe

broadlyapplicabletoawiderangeofapplications.

Thisprogrampursuesthecapabilitytolearngenerallyapplicableandgenerative

representationsofactionbetweenobjectsinascenedirectlyfromvisualinputs,andthen

reasonoverthoselearnedrepresentations. Akeydistinctionbetweenthisresearchandthe

stateoftheartinmachinevisionisthatthelatterhasmadecontinualprogressinrecognizinga

widerange

of

objects

and

their

propertieswhat

might

be

thought

of

as

the

nouns

in

the

descriptionofascene. ThefocusofMindsEyeistoaddtheperceptualandcognitive

underpinningsforrecognizingandreasoningabouttheverbsinthosescenes,enablingamore

completenarrativeofactioninthevisualexperience.

Oneofthedesiredmilitarycapabilitiesresultingfromthisnewformofvisualintelligenceisa

smartcamera,withsufficientvisualintelligencethatitcanreportonactivityinanareaofobservation. Acamerawiththiskindofvisualintelligencecouldbeemployedasapayloadona

broadrangeofpersistentstaresurveillanceplatforms,fromfixedsurveillancesystems,which

wouldconceivablybenefitfromabundantcomputingpower,tocameraequippedperchand

staremicroairvehicles,whichwouldimposeextremelimitationsonpayloadsizeandavailable

computingpower. Forthepurposeofthisresearch,employmentofthiscapabilityonmanportableunmannedgroundvehicles(UGVs)isassumed. Thisprovidesareasonableyet

challengingsetofdevelopmentconstraints,alongwiththepotentialtotransitionthe

technologytoanobjectivegroundforcecapability.

MindsEyestronglyemphasizesfundamentalresearch. Itisexpectedthattechnologydevelopmentteamswilldrawequallyfromthestateoftheartincognitivesystems,machine

vision,andrelatedfieldstodevelopthisnewvisualintelligence. Toguidethistransformative

http://www.fedbizopps.gov/http://www.fedbizopps.gov/

7/31/2019 DARPA Minds Eye Industry Day Announcement 15March2010 (2)-1

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DARPAMINDSEYEPROGRAMINDUSTRYDAYANNOUNCEMENT-MARCH 15,2010 3

researchtowardoperationalbenefits,theprogramwillalsofeatureflexibleandopportunisticsystemsintegration. Thisintegrationwillleverageprovenvisualintelligencesoftwaretodevelopprototypesmartcameras. Integratorswillcontributeaneconomicallevelofeffort

duringthetechnologydevelopmentphase,supportingparticipationinphaseIprogramevents

(PImeetings,demonstrations,andevaluations)aswellasdevelopmentofdetailedsystems

integrationconceptsthatwillbeconsideredbyDARPAatappropriatetimesforincreasedeffort

inphase

IIsystems

integration.

ThegoalsofIndustryDayarethreefold:1)tofamiliarizeparticipantswithDARPAsinterestin

theMindsEyeresearchareaandtheforthcomingprogramrequirements,2)topromote

understandingoftheBAAproposalguidelines,and3)topromotediscussionofsynergistic

capabilitiesamongpotentialprogramparticipants. ItisDARPAsdesiretofacilitatethe

formationofstrongteamsandbusinessrelationshipsinordertodevelopcomprehensive,

qualityresponsestoanypotentialDARPAsolicitation.InformationontheMindsEyeBAAwill

beavailableat:http://www.darpa.mil/tcto_solicitations.htmlfollowingthepublicationofthe

BAAinFedBizOpps. FollowingtheIndustryDay,thewebsitewillcontainFrequentlyAsked

Questions,presentationsfromtheIndustryDay,andanattendancelistforteamingpurposes.

AttendanceattheIndustryDayisvoluntaryandisnotrequiredtoproposetosubsequentBroad

AgencyAnnouncements(ifany)orresearchsolicitations(ifany)onthistopic. DARPAwillnot

providereimbursementforcostsincurredtoparticipateinthisIndustryDay. TheIndustryDay

doesnotconstituteaformalsolicitationforproposalsorabstracts. Attendanceislimitedto

two(2)representativesperorganization.

TentativeAgenda1:002:00pm OpeningRemarksandProgramManagerPresentation

ThissessionwillincludetheintroductionoftheDARPA

MindsEye

Program

vision

and

philosophy,

objectives

and

goals

2:002:15pm Break

2:153:30pm Q&ASession

REGISTRATION

RegistrationmustbecompletedbyApril16,2010viathefollowingsite

http://tinyurl.com/MindsEyeIndustryDay.

NOTE: Attendanceislimitedtotwo(2)representativesperorganization.

DATE&LOCATION

TheIndustryDaywillbeheldonApril20,2010,attheWashingtonMarriottatMetroCenter,

locatedat77512th

StreetNW,Washington,DC 20005.

http://www.marriottmetrocenter.com/

http://www.darpa.mil/tcto_solicitations.htmlhttp://tinyurl.com/MindsEyeIndustryDayhttp://www.marriottmetrocenter.com/http://www.marriottmetrocenter.com/http://www.marriottmetrocenter.com/http://tinyurl.com/MindsEyeIndustryDayhttp://www.darpa.mil/tcto_solicitations.html