Charles River Analytics Develops Mixed Reality Interface

Charles River Analytics Inc. has received funding from DARPA under the OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program to develop our Ecological User Interfaces for Rapid Operational Teaming with Autonomous Swarms (EUROPA) interface. EUROPA aims to help operators better control swarms in urban operations by providing novel, multimodal user interfaces tailored to tactical operational environments.

“Currently, operators are performing an extremelychallenging task, especially in dynamic urban environments,” said StephanieKane, Senior Scientist at Charles River Analytics and Principal Investigator onthe EUROPA effort. “Operators must quickly understand how the swarm’s current behaviorrelates to overall mission success, and accurately determine where to giveadditional direction. EUROPA is a new swarm interface concept designed to make operator-droneteaming easier.”

“EUROPA includes advanced multimodal interfaces, such asvisual augmented reality, body-worn haptics, and audio modalities,” added Dr.Michael Jenkins, Senior Scientist at Charles River. “These interfaces supportnovel gesture, speech, and gaze-based interactions, giving swarm tacticians atailored approach to direct and team with swarms.”