IHMC’s new humanoid Alex aces its first off-sit, off-tether demonstration
IHMC’s robotics team has just completed an off-site demonstration of its newly developed humanoid robot, Alex.
“Things went really well,” said Senior Research Scientist Robert Griffin. “I believe the Office of Naval Research was impressed by the progress we’ve made over the past 10 months.”
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) awarded IHMC a multi-year and multimillion-dollar contract to develop a robot capable of offsite and outdoor urban operations. The goal for Alex and its successors is to be nimble enough to operate in extreme environments, especially those involving military scenarios and disaster response where the risk for human casualty and injury is extremely high.
“We are designing Alex so it will be able to walk up to a building, open a door, and walk around inside to assess a situation. The first soldier or responder who enters a building or warehouse is at a very high-risk of casualty. With Alex, our robot will be able to enter and assess these hazardous environments where human entry is extremely dangerous,” said Griffin.
Lessons the robotics team gleaned from its work with Nadia have been incorporated into Alex. Nadia is an IHMC humanoid that advanced the robotics field and gained YouTube notoriety for playing ping pong with members of the robotics team. Nadia was a testbed for the structural design of humanoids, from joints to actuators to software that could drive the robot’s behavioral capabilities.
“Alex builds upon years and years of foundational work that our robotics group has been undertaking for more than two decades,” said IHMC CEO Morley Stone. “A confluence of technological advances that have happened on multiple fronts over the past few years have been incorporated into Alex. The combination of these advances have given Alex game-changing capabilities.”
The foundational work Stone refers to began in the mid-2000s when IHMC established its robotics program. It gained notoriety in 2015 when it’s semi-autonomous robot, nicknamed Running Man, brought home $1 million in prize money for placing second in the international DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Robotics Challenge. That same year IHMC and Running Man appeared on the cover of Time magazine for a story about the epic race to build a humanoid robot.
That was more than 10 years ago, however, and the difference between Running Man and Nadia and now Alex are like night and day, said Stone.
“Even now,” said Stone, “the most advanced competitor humanoids are targeted for the structured environments of warehouses and repetitive tasks that are simple compared to real world environments, especially outdoor environments with changing conditions and the chaos of military operations. So moving robotics out of the lab and into the real world represents a huge step forward for not only IHMC, but all of robotics.”
During the demonstration in Maryland for the Office of Naval Research, Alex successfully walked on rocky gravel, slick surfaces and uneven pavements. “Alex did everything and more that we asked it to do,” said Grifin. “I have to say, even the robotics team was impressed by how well Alex did.”
A Letter From Our CEO
At IHMC, we are all about advancing the human condition and, as such, excited to bring you a more dynamic digital newsletter that will provide the most up-to-date information about the exciting work that goes on here at the institute. With this new format for the newsletter, we will be able to incorporate multimedia to better bring our research to life. For example, you will not only be able to read about our ground-breaking work, but also view videos of our research in action.
In early April at our annual open house, IHMC’s robotics team unveiled Alex, our new advanced humanoid robot designed to step out of the lab and into real-world environments. The open house was the first opportunity for the public to meet and observe Alex.
Just recently, our robotics group took Alex on the road for the first time for a demonstration before the Office of Naval Research, which awarded the institute a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract to develop the next-generation humanoid robot. Even now, the most advanced humanoids are designed for the structured environments of labs and warehouses where they perform repetitive tasks that are simple compared to the demands of real-world environments and their changing conditions. Alex represents a new era of nimble, adaptive humanoids that builds upon years of foundational work by our robotics team.
In this edition of the newsletter, you also will learn about:
— How our National Center for Collaborate Autonomy hosted its inaugural workshop with participants from across the United States. Back in January of this year, I had the opportunity to talk to different Congressional offices. A topic on everyone’s mind was how the future of all military conflicts, as we’re now seeing in Ukraine, will be dictated by autonomous systems like drones and unmanned vehicles. The NCCA was created to advance research in collaborative autonomy – not only between autonomous agents, but more importantly push the frontiers of human-machine teaming.
— An IHMC project focused on leveraging the power of simulation and virtual reality to fit the mission needs of warfighters out in the field. The project, titled Workbench, is designed to reshape how we test new technology and validate new products before training teams to effectively deploy the new technology in various warfighter situations.
— An update on our clinical trial supported by NIH, which is investigating how a potent personalized exercise program can mitigate age-related functional decline and other hallmarks of aging. As a multi-site trial with partners at the University of Florida and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, more than 150 people in the Pensacola area have taken part so far as research participants in the trial, which is investigating the physiological benefits of exercise for an aging population, and understanding the molecular basis for individual differences in response.
— And a roundup of other news happening at IHMC, including events and new hires and a couple of prestigious leadership appointments for two of our research scientists.
I hope you enjoy this revamped newsletter and will help us spread the word about the exciting and game-changing research being conducted at our Pensacola and Ocala campuses. – Morley Stone
IHMC project helps pioneer new tools for warfighters
The Russian-Ukrainian War has evolved over the past four years into the world’s first drone military conflict. Ukraine turned to inexpensive off-the-shelf drones at the beginning of the war to combat Russia’s larger and better-equipped army.
The off-the-shelf drones were so effective at tracking Russian troops and bombing enemy targets that Ukraine quickly created manufacturing assembly lines capable of producing a million drones a year.
With support from the U.S., Ukraine began innovating the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that led to a new generation of sophisticated drones that have rapidly transformed the nature of warfare. These innovations in autonomous systems are now being deployed in Iran.
As a result of the military conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, new technologies in drones and autonomous systems are being rolled out around the world at an unprecedented pace. To help pioneer new capabilities, IHMC launched a project called Workbench four years ago. It allows the US military to prototype new concepts and rapidly develop new tools and technologies for warfighters that could be deployed in the battlefield. Over the last four years, Workbench has expanded far beyond its original mission.
“We’ve grown a lot over the last four years,” says Matt Johnson, an IHMC Senior Research scientist and one of the leaders of Workbench. “We started out prototyping new concepts to meet the needs of warfighters. But then SOCOM (U.S. Special Operations Command) started asking us, ‘Can we use this for training on these new systems? Can we use it for mission planning? Can we use it to do rehearsal? Can we use it for advanced drone training?’ So, over the past four years, we’ve extended Workbench to support each of these capabilities in an integrated manner to allow seamless transition between them.”
The project evolved when SOCOM and its Science and Technology Directorate began looking at ways to provide Special Operations Forces with new technologies that could be used in the battlefield in a variety of different environments. These new technologies were in the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous systems, all strengths of IHMC and its scientists.
So when SOCOM began acquiring these new technologies but quickly realized it also need training programs for these new tools, the command once again turned to IHMC.
“We’ve been quite good at meeting SOCOM needs. Even though Workbench originally was designed to prototype new concepts, we’ve continually adapted to developing training programs and rollouts for these new technologies. While many are skeptical of the value of Augmented Reality having never used Workbench, once they try Workbench out, most leave as converted believers in its value.”
So well that IHMC CEO Morley Stone says Workbench is now ready for prime time.
“Workbench is reshaping how you build products. It’s also reshaping how you validate new products and how you train teams to utilize new technologies, and even how you effectively deploy these new products and technologies in varied situations.”
Today IHMC researchers are working directly with Special Operations Forces to shape Workbench in a way that meets the immediate needs of the warfighter.
“By working directly with warfighters,” says Stone, “the Workbench staff is able to test the integration of these new technologies into a warfighter team earlier in the process of product development. The strength of this approach is that it stresses the importance of the operator being embedded within the process in order to fully understand the product and its operations. It is this interaction of people and technology in a real-world environment and within a mission context that will help us identify the critical issues in tomorrow’s sophisticated technologies.”
Johnson adds that IHMC researchers work hard to be responsive to their customers. “So we go and deliver a product to a customer, and we’ll spend time with them. They’ll bring people by, we’ll walk them through the product. We’ll ask them a lot of questions about what they like, what they don’t like, what they would like to see, what they would like to be able to do? And then we take all of that and bake it into the next solution. So, every time we go back to the customer, we are able to make something better. As a result, the progress of Workbench has been excellent. Each year we have more customers interested than the previous one and that’s always a good sign of value.”
In terms of being ready for prime time, Johnson and the Workbench team are now looking at ways to commercialize some of the capabilities that Workbench is providing. “That’s exciting in the sense that Workbench is mature enough now that we can actually potentially put it out in the market in different ways,” he says.
Stay tuned says Stone. “Workbench has created a whole new way of imagining and developing new technologies and products. The project is pretty young, just four years old. It’s exciting for me to think about what Workbench will be like 10 years in another four years.”
STEM-Talk: Doug Cooke talks about strengths and flaws of NASA’s Artemis mission
Four days after the astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission splashed down in the Pacific, STEM-Talk host Dr. Ken Ford interviewed Doug Cooke, an aerospace consultant who spent 38 years at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Ford, IHMC founder and a former Associate Director of NASA’s Center of Excellence in Information Technology, talked to Cooke about the Artemis mission’s 10-day roundtrip from the Earth to the Moon as well as NASA’s plans to return humans to the lunar surface by 2028.
During his 38 years at NASA, Cooke played critical roles in the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and many other spaceflight programs. During the last three years of his NASA career, he served as Associate Administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, which oversees the development of systems critical to NASA’s plans for human exploration of the Moon and Mars, including the Artemis program.
Several times in his career, Doug served under Dr. Mike Griffin, our guest on episode 189, who served in a variety of senior leadership roles, including NASA Administrator. Mike and his colleague Dr. Lisa Porter shared their concerns in episode 189 that NASA’s Artemis program is seriously flawed and that the U.S. is at risk of falling behind China in the race to the Moon. In today’s interview, Cooke shares that he, too, believes the Artemis program is flawed.
In episode 195, which is now available on your favorite podcast apps, Cooke also discusses:
— His key takeaways of the Artemis II mission as well as his thoughts about the Artemis program more broadly.
— The success of the Apollo program.
— Issues with the Artemis mission architecture.
— His belief that NASA needs to come up with a plan-B for the Artemis mission architecture.
— The role of private industry (i.e., commercial space) in space exploration.
— The challenges and complexities of sending humans to Mars.
— How China could one day surpass America’s leadership role in human spaceflight.
STEM-Talk is an award-winning podcast from the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition that hosts conversations with the leading minds in science and technology. Listen on your favorite platform or browse our library at https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalks/
IHMC hosts national workshop on collaborative autonomy
The nature of military conflicts has changed. In the past, drones and unmanned systems had a small impact. But as we are seeing in Iran and Ukraine, unmanned systems are now having a dominant impact.
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise that drones and other unmanned autonomous systems are having a bigger impact than they did 10 years ago,” says IHMC Senior Research Scientist Matt Johnson. “It also should not be a surprise that if you can scale unmanned systems better, you will have a significant advantage in future conflicts.”
The problem in terms of military conflicts is that each drone or unmanned platform is operated by one war fighter, says Niranjan Suri, a Senior Research Scientist and Associate Director at IHMC.
“Right now, there’s typically one war fighter in the field driving one drone. But if you talk to people in Ukraine, they would like to launch 100,000 drones at the same time. The problem is they don’t have 100,000 pilots. This is why we need to get where a war fighter is not commanding a single unmanned autonomous vehicle, but commanding a whole fleet of drones and autonomous systems.”
This in a nutshell is what IHMC’s newly created National Center for Collaborative Autonomy is all about. It’s also what drew 13 people from nine top national universities to Pensacola to talk about beginning a new research community around collaborate autonomy. During the invitation-only workshop, researchers worked on identifying the barriers to scaling the use of autonomous systems in multi-domain operations. They also brainstormed the fundamental capabilities necessary to move beyond these barriers.
“The goal of the workshop was to find common areas of research and also mechanisms by which we could collaborate,” says Niranjan. “It became apparent that all these different organizations that came to the workshop have different strengths and that we can complement each other by working together to address the problems that the military and its autonomous systems are facing.”
IHMC created the National Center for Collaborate Autonomy (NCCA) after receiving a $6.7 million grant from the Triumph Gulf Coast Board. Triumph is a nonprofit corporation funded by a legal settlement with British Petroleum following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. IHMC has long been recognized for its expertise in drones and autonomous systems. By leveraging this expertise with the expertise of other organizations in cooperative human-machine teaming, the NCCA has the potential to become a driving force for shaping the future of military conflicts as well as protecting the nation’s security and economic interests.
As Johnson points out, right now we have warfighters out in the field wearing goggles and holding a joystick. “So the problem is that they can only control one drone when ideally they could be able to control something like 20 drones. But because you can’t control 20 drones with one joystick, we need something different. And that in my mind is what the NCCA is about. How do we scale the use of drones and other autonomous systems and the impact that we now seeing them have in Ukraine and Iran? Whoever can scale autonomous systems first is going to have a big leg up on the rest of the world.”
Militaries around the world, according to Suri and Johnson, are focused two things: how to optimize unmanned aerial systems, especially Kamikaze drones, and how to counter these unmanned aerial systems.
“What if instead of having one Kamikaze drone, you have an adversary in the field who now has 50. So how do you come up with mechanisms by which you can counter or prevent an attack by 50 Kamikaze drones?”
This, however, isn’t the only issue militaries are facing.
“It’s not just about the coordination amongst aerial drones, but how do they then collaborate with surface robots that might be out at sea or undersea robots? And this is what we mean by multi-domain collaborative autonomy. And that’s really where we are trying to go. And of course, we have to make sure that the human warfighter is integrated into this overall system so that they can maintain oversight and provide overall direction to what these autonomous platforms are doing.”
Johnson says it became apparent during the workshop that there’s an urgent need to figure out how to scale the use of autonomous systems. “There was so much interest in working on this that everyone was excited in taking next steps. The group we assembled has a lot of resources that offer the potential to do more than we can do by ourself here at IHMC. That’s why we want this to be a national center. We want to tap into a broad range of organizations and their resources. By working together, we will be able to accomplish more than if we were all working by ourselves.”
Next steps for the NCCA group include writing papers and research proposals together. There’s also an opportunity to figure out how to apply autonomous systems beyond military use.
“For example, how do we apply autonomous systems in manufacturing and potentially heath care?” says Johnson. “There are other domains where we’re going to see automation have the same effect that it’s having in the Department of War space. So manufacturing and health care will run into the same challenge the DOW now faces of how to scale these autonomous systems. If the collaborative that we’ve created with the NCCA can get out front on this, it will really open a lot of doors not only for us here at IHMC, but also for all the organizations that showed up for the workshop.”
In addition to IHMC, the universities that attended the workshop include: Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Brigham Young, Penn State, Mississippi, University of Maryland, University of Florida and the University of West Florida.
“It was a great group and I’m excited to see what comes next,” says Johnson.
Community turnout lifts IHMC clinical trial to a great start
Dr. Marcas Bamman likes to think of exercise as a miracle drug.
“I’ve long believed that we need to leverage exercise as a true form of medicine,” says Bamman, a Senior Research Scientist at IHMC and Director of the Institute’s lab for Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Research. “If we could bottle exercise into a pill, it would be a miracle drug.”
Right now, with Pensacola’s help, Bamman and his colleagues at IHMC are in the midst of a clinical trial designed to demonstrate exercise’s potential to slow down and even reverse the hallmarks of aging. Called Multidimensional Modeling to Maximize Adaptations to Exercise (M³AX), the clinical trial aims to provide evidence of exercise’s ability to improve the healthspan and quality of life of people ages 60 and older.
Over a 30-year career, Bamman has been involved in healthspan studies and clinical trials around the world. He has worked to provide physicians and health-care providers with the evidence they need to leverage exercise as medicine. The M³AX trial that’s underway is a good example and it’s off to a great start thanks to the turnout and interest of Pensacola and the surrounding communities.
“Our clinical trials are typically pretty demanding for the volunteers but the intent is for them to also be highly rewarding. Recruiting volunteers for clinical trials like M³AX is often challenging, but thankfully not in this community. The turnout of people in Pensacola wanting to participate has been phenomenal,” says Bamman, who is the principal investigator of M³AX.
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City and the University of Florida are collaborating on the clinical trial that’s being funded by the National Institutes of Health. The recruitment goals are to enroll 156 people in Pensacola and 94 people in Oklahoma City. The goal is to run 250 people over 60 years old through the 23-week exercise regimen, which includes three days a week of combined endurance training and weight training.
It’s not just the people of Pensacola who have been great, but also the health-care systems, says Bamman. “Baptist and Ascension Sacred Heart and HCA Florida West have been more than willing to collaborate with us. So if we find something abnormal during a screening exam, we have the partners for referrals. If they have a heart condition or a bone or joint condition, we can send them to somebody. That’s been a great service for the people participating in the trial.”
The study has attracted volunteers from all walks of life and professional backgrounds, says Bamman. “We have physicians, nurses, artists, architects and pilots. We’ve had Navy veterans and Air Force veterans and a number of other people who served in the military. We’ve even had a few husband-and-wife couples sign up.”
The oldest participant so far has been 87. But the most remarkable thing about the community’s turnout is that more than half of the clinical trial’s participants are 70 and older.
“We have a very stringent set of screening criteria,” says Bamman. “When we designed the trial for people 60 and older, we told the NIH a minimum of 30 percent of the participants would be 70 or older, which is an age group more challenging to enroll. That’s because the older you get, the more chance there is that something screens you out. But rather than struggling to get 70+ year-olds, we have had great success thanks to Pensacola.”
Bamman believes there are two main reasons why Pensacola and the surrounding area have shown so much interest in the trial. “First, what we’re doing promotes healthspan and people in this age group are especially interested in taking better care of themselves. That’s the first thing.”
The second thing, says Bamman, is that the clinical trial is the first opportunity for people in Northwest Florida to participate in an NIH funded study like this. “A lot of the participants will come up to me and say, ‘This is unbelievable. I can’t believe we’re doing something like this here, that we have a facility like this in Pensacola.’”
Indeed, the $40 million healthspan, resilience and performance research complex opened two years ago. It was specifically designed to be able to conduct clinical trials and studies like the NIH-funded M³AX trial. Bamman says it has been very encouraging for him to see how the people in the trial see the value of the complex and what IHMC is doing for them and Pensacola.
He tells the story of one participant who had just started the program who asked how much it would cost him if he were having to pay for all the personal trainers who are working with him as well all the diagnostic tests that are being done him.
“It would be really expensive, wouldn’t it?” said the gentleman.
“Well, since you’re a taxpayer,” said Bamman, “you’ve already paid for it. This is government money supporting the trial. We just happened to bring that taxpayer money back here to Pensacola so we could do cool stuff like the study you’re in.”
Two IHMC researchers named to top posts in worldwide organizations
Drs. Nicole Rendos and Luigi Penco, a pair of up and coming research scientists at IHMC, were recently appointed to high-level positions in two of the nation’s most prestigious organizations representing scientists and researchers not only in the U.S., but around the world.
The Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine named Rendos its president for 2026 while Penco was appointed co-chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Robotics and Automation Society’s Technical Committee on Telerobotics.
“Nicole and Luigi have been fantastic additions to IHMC,” said IHMC CEO, Morley Stone. “It’s nice to see the two of them recognized not only by us, but also by two external organizations that represent some of the finest scientists in sports medicine and robotics around the world.”
Rendos joined IHMC last year as a research scientist working with the institute’s Healthspan, Resilience and Performance Research team. In 2025, she served as president-elect of the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine and was the program chair for its 2026 Annual Meeting, which drew more than 1,300 members from 10 states and Puerto Rico. The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest exercise science and sports medicine organization in the world with nearly 50,000 members.
Rendos specializes in biomechanics, motor control, rehabilitation and exercise physiology. Much of her work has focused on using real-time gait biofeedback as an intervention for diabetic neuropathy, and muscle use and activation patterns in runners.
Prior to her arrival at IHMC, Rendos was the director of the Gait, Exercise and Rehabilitation Lab at Emory University. Much of her research since earning a Ph.D. from the University of Miami, has focused on biomechanics and rehabilitation medicine. She is particularly interested in improving functional mobility and the quality of life for people living with chronic disease, primarily diabetes and diabetes-related complications.
At IHMC, she is currently the Principal Investigator of a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health that’s investigating the use of audiovisual biofeedback to improve walking mechanics in individuals with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. In addition to her work at IHMC, she also is faculty member at the Usha Kundu MD College of Health at the University of West Florida.
Penco is a roboticist who arrived at IHMC in 2022 after receiving his Ph.D. in robotics at the National Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Nancy, France. He specializes in autonomy, teleoperation and human-robot interfaces for humanoid systems. His research and development work center on advancing the seamless integration between human operators and autonomous robots.
At IHMC, he leads and contributes to several high-impact research initiatives supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). He has also served as the Principal Investigator for NASA’s Valkyrie project, which leveraged IHMC’s software framework to enhance the autonomy and usability of NASA’s Valkyrie humanoid robot.
He is now the Co-Principal Investigator on ONR’s Squadbot project, which is focused on developing a robotic platform and autonomy algorithms for building exploration. He also is part of ARL’s Explosive Breaching project, which aims to increase the safety of dismounted infantry by using robots for breaching tasks.
As co-chair of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society’s Technical Committee on Telerobotics, he will help steer a research agenda in telerobotics for the society. He will be organizing technical sessions as well as workshops and panels in an effort to facilitate collaborations between academia and industry. Penco also serves as an associate editor of the Robotics and Automation Society’s flagship conferences, such as the International Conference on Robotics and Automation as well as the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.
The IEEE is the world’s largest professional organization representing nearly 500,000 engineers and technologists who work together to foster innovation and global collaboration across various technical fields.
Public learns about robots, drones, virtual reality, Healthspan advances and more at open house
More than 500 people attended IHMC’s open house where the public had its first opportunity to see the robotics team’s new humanoid robot, Alex.
The open house is held annually in conjunction with National Robotics Week, which was established by Congress in 2010 to give students, teachers and the public an opportunity to meet with scientists and engineers to learn about their work in robotics and technology.
“We had a great turnout,” said IHMC COO Cassie Guilliams. “It was so rewarding to see how people, especially children, were fascinated with the work and research that goes on here at IHMC.”
In addition to watching demonstrations of IHMC’s robots, visitors had opportunities to interact with dozens of IHMC scientists and engineers to learn about their research into drones, virtual reality, human performance, exoskeletons, artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Visitors also found out about the new National Center for Collaborative Autonomy, an initiative focused on optimizing the abilities and potential of autonomous systems like unmanned aerial vehicles, self-driving cars and space probes.
STEM-Talk: Tommy Wood shares science-backed strategies to enhance your mental sharpness
Dr. Tommy Wood rejoins Drs. Ken Ford and Dawn Kernagis for the second of his two-part interview about his just released book, “The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age.”
Tommy is a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of Washington where he runs a neuroscience lab. He also is a visiting research scientist at IHMC who has been a frequent STEM-Talk guest and occasional co-host.
In today’s part two of his interview, Tommy shares science-backed strategies to enhance mental sharpness and prevent cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s disease. Dawn and Ken talk to Tommy about how to future-proof our brains and the importance of diet and exercise for brain health. Tommy also emphasizes the importance of stimulating and challenging our brains by learning new things throughout our lifespans. In part one of his interview, episode 193, Tommy discussed the history of neuroscience as well as his mission to dispel the myth that the brain is doomed to decline with age.
In episode 194, Tommy also talks about:
— How what we eat has a direct effect on our long-term health and dementia risk.
— The importance of nutrients and how women on average are lower in B12, iron, iodine, and calcium, while men are typically lower in magnesium, zinc, and various B vitamins.
— His thoughts on red meat and fish consumption.
— The genetic basis for dementia and Alzheimer’s, particularly regarding the APOE genotypes.
— How brain health is tied closely to the extent we stimulate our brains, especially as we age.
— How retirement is a point in someone’s life where their cognitive abilities are most at risk.
— How social media and AI are affecting our brains.
The Stimulated Mind is now available in bookstores as well as Amazon and other booksellers. Be sure to check out part one of Tommy’s interview, episode 193.
IHMC open house unveils the robotics team’s new advanced humanoid Alex
At this year’s IHMC open house on April 10, the public will have its first opportunity to meet Alex, the institute’s new advanced humanoid robot.
“We are so excited to show off Alex,” said Senior Research Scientist Robert Griffin, who leads HMC’s robotics group. “Alex has been developed to step outside of the lab and perform in real-world environments. It’s a big step for us. The maneuverability, autonomy and search skills of Alex will allow it to serve as a human avatar for first responders in emergency situations.”
Alex is built upon the cutting–edge research that IHMC did with Nadia, a humanoid that entertained last year’s open-house visitors by playing ping pong with members of the robotics staff. Although Alex features next-generation technology and capabilities, it lacks one very important thing: a face.
“At the open house, children are invited to put on their engineer–designer hats and imagine what Alex’s face would look like,” said Robotics Lab Coordinator Claudia Artzer. “The most creative ideas will be chosen, celebrated by the Robotics team, and brought to life as a 3D replica. We’re hoping that children will be able to inspire us come up with creative concepts.”
In addition to being able to watch demonstrations of Alex, visitors will have opportunities to interact with dozens of IHMC scientists and engineers to learn about their research into drones, virtual reality, human performance, exoskeletons, artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Visitors also will be able to learn about the new National Center for Collaborative Autonomy, an initiative focused on optimizing the abilities and potential of autonomous systems like unmanned aerial vehicles, self-driving cars and space probes. Recent events around the world have underscored that autonomous systems like drones are fundamentally changing the nature of military conflicts.
The April 10 open house will be held from 4 to 7 with the last tour beginning at 6:30 at the IHMC campus, 40 South Alcaniz. The event is part of national robotics week, which was established by Congress in 2010 to bring together students, teachers and other interested parties who share a passion for robotics and technology.
STEM-Talk: Tommy Wood discusses his new book and the adaptability of the aging brain
Today Dr. Tommy Wood joins Drs. Ken Ford and Dawn Kernagis to talk about his book, “The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age.”
Tommy is an associate professor at the University of Washington where he runs a neuroscience lab. He also is a visiting research scientist at IHMC who has been a frequent STEM-Talk guest and occasional co-host.
In today’s part one of his two-part interview, we talk to Tommy about his mission to dispel the myth that the brain is doomed to decline with age. “The Stimulated Mind” offers science-backed strategies to enhance mental sharpness and prevent cognitive decline, including Alzheimer’s disease.
In part one of our interview, Tommy discusses:
- How neuroscientists study the brain.
- Dispels the conventional belief that the brain is fixed by the time we reach our twenties and incapable of change.
- Provides examples of the adaptability of the adult brain.
- Talks about Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who is considered the first neuroscientist.
- The importance of cardiovascular health in brain health.
- A history of Alzheimer’s disease.
- What we know about age-related dementia.
In the upcoming part two of Tommy’s interview, Tommy shares ways that people can stimulate neuroplasticity in the adult brain.
STEM-Talk is an award-winning podcast from the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition that hosts conversations with the leading minds in science and technology. Listen on your favorite platform or browse our library at https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalks/
STEM-Talk: Francisco Gonzalez-Lima on methylene blue and noninvasive brain stimulation
Dr. Francisco Gonzalez-Lima appeared on STEM-Talk five years ago to share his research into Alzheimer’s disease and how low-dose methylene blue as well as the application of near-infrared light can protect people from neurodegeneration. Since then, he and his colleagues at the Gonzalez-Lima lab have produced dozens of more studies and papers that have advanced their research.
Today, Gonzalez-Lima returns to STEM-Talk in episode 191 to give us an update on his continuing investigations into methylene blue and the use of transcranial lasers for neuroprotection and the treatment of neurocognitive disorders.
Francisco and his lab at the University of Texas Austin are recognized as world leaders for their research into the relationships between brain energy metabolism, memory and neurobehavioral disorders.
In today’s interview with STEM-Talk hosts Dr. Ken Ford and Dawn Kernagis, Gonzalez-Lima talks about:
- The beneficial neurocognitive and emotional effects of noninvasive human brain stimulation in healthy, aging and mentally ill populations.
- The safety of methylene blue to treat diminishing cognitive function.
- The use of methylene blue and ketones to treat vascular hypometabolism in Alzheimer’s disease.
- The use transcranial infrared laser stimulation for cognitive enhancement.
- And the impact of mitochondrial disfunction on neurodegeneration.
STEM-Talk is an award-winning podcast from the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition that hosts conversations with the leading minds in science and technology. Listen on your favorite platform or browse our library at https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalks/
STEM-Talk: Judith Curry and the Consequences of Climate Alarmism
Dr. Judith Curry, a climatologist known for her criticism of alarmist doomsday rhetoric about climate change, returns to STEM-Talk for her second appearance.
Curry was one of five researchers commissioned by the Department of Energy last year to draft a Climate Assessment Report summarizing the current state of climate science, particularly with a focus on how it relates to the United States. In Curry’s interview today, episode 190, STEM-Talk host Ken Ford has a conversation with Curry about the climate report’s key points, including the finding that carbon-dioxide induced warming of the planet appears to be less damaging economically than has been commonly believed.
The report, which was released this past summer, also argues that aggressive mitigation strategies for carbon dioxide emissions could be more harmful than helpful.
Today’s interview, which is now available on podcast apps, YouTube and on IHMC’s website, comes on the heels of the prestigious journal Nature retracting a study that predicted climate change and carbon emissions would cause catastrophic economic damage by the end of the century. Curry’s interview also follows an about-face from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates who wrote a memo back in October arguing it’s time to tamp down the alarmist rhetoric that climate change will lead to humanity’s demise.
In today’s interview, Ford and Curry discuss:
- How Curry became one of five researchers handpicked by Energy Secretary Chris Wright to summarize the current state of climate science.
- The climate report’s finding that the economic damage from carbon dioxide-induced warming is less severe than is commonly believed.
- The need to redirect climate science away from alarmism toward a better understanding of natural climate variability.
- The difficulty that’s involved in linking specific extreme weather events like hurricanes to climate change.
- A paper Curry co-wrote titled “A critique of the apocalyptic climate narrative.”
- Bill Gates’ pivot away from policies urging net-zero emissions.
STEM-Talk: NASA’s Flawed Plan to Return to the Moon – with Mike Griffin and Lisa Porter
The United States risks losing the race to return humans to the Moon to the People’s Republic of China, which will pose serious threats to our national security.
This is one of the key takeaways of STEM-Talk Episode 189, which features a conversation with Drs. Michael Griffin and Lisa Porter, two scientists with extensive backgrounds at NASA, the Department of Defense and in national security issues.
IHMC’s founder and CEO Emeritus Dr. Ken Ford’s timely interview with Griffin and Porter came just 10 days before Griffin appeared before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology to give testimony on China’s advancements in space and the risks it poses for the U.S.
“We have squandered a 60-year head start on pioneering the space frontier to a nation that, without reason or provocation on our part, has chosen to become our nation’s adversary,” said Griffin in his opening comments to Congress.
Ford’s interview with Griffin and Porter is now available on podcast apps, YouTube and on IHMC’s website. Another key takeaway of the interview is that NASA’s Artemis III Misson to return to the Moon and build a permanent lunar base is seriously flawed and should be scrapped.
Griffin and Porter are co-founders and co-presidents of LogiQ Inc., a company providing high-end management, scientific and technical consulting services.
Griffin’s background includes roles as the former Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Administrator of NASA, the Space Department Head at the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory as well as Chairman and CEO of Schafer Corporation.
Porter’s background includes roles as the former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the founding director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Associate Administrator for Aeronautics at NASA.
In this episode, Griffin and Porter discuss:
- How the Artemis mission architecture imposes significant mission and crew risk.
- The Apollo program.
- Why it’s important for the U.S. to return to the moon before China, Russia or any other nation.
- What is driving the ambitions of China and Russia among many other nations to explore the Moon and build a permanent presence there.
- Concerns about recent NASA budget cuts.
- And NASA’s core purpose of beyond just science.
STEM-Talk is an award-winning podcast from the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition that hosts conversations with the leading minds in science and technology. Listen on your favorite platform or browse our library at https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalks/
IHMC partners with Conduit Venture Labs to accelerate commercialization efforts
The Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC) has entered into a strategic partnership with Conduit Venture Labs, a venture studio leader in venture creation and deep-tech commercialization in physical artificial intelligence, the acceleration and commercialization of frontier technologies emerging from IHMC’s research.
The engagement is designed to broaden IHMC’s real-world impact across defense and commercial markets while creating new pathways for revenue generation to support IHMC’s long-term research mission to advance and elevate the human condition.
IHMC has pioneered advancements in exoskeletons, human-machine teaming, embodied AI, and physical system intelligence. Through this partnership, Conduit will apply its venture-building methodology to evaluate commercialization pathways for select technologies, with strategies spanning direct licensing to new venture creation.
Dr. Morley Stone, IHMC’s chief executive officer, says the collaboration furthers the Institute’s commitment to advancing the frontier of human and machine teaming performance.
“To continue pushing that frontier, we must pair world-class research with world-class commercialization. Conduit brings the expertise needed to translate our breakthroughs into real-world impact and meaningful market outcomes,” Stone says.
A convergence of factors is driving the critical need for commercialization in physical AI — the fusion of software intelligence with embodied systems such as robots, wearables, autonomous platforms, and sensing interfaces. These technologies are rapidly becoming essential tools for national security, industrial efficiency, and human performance. At the same time global markets increasingly demand that government-enabled breakthroughs scale into commercial deployment.
Conduit Venture Labs is one of the few venture studios purpose-built to commercialize physical technology at scale, integrating product readiness, dual-use strategy, venture market discipline, and deep technical networks across industry, government, and capital markets.
The partnership underscores the growing importance of commercialization-first venture studios capable of turning research-driven physical technologies into durable, venture-backed companies and high-value licensing pathways.
“Breakthrough science deserves a pathway to scale,” says Susan Paley, head of commercialization for Conduit Venture Labs. “IHMC’s research is shaping how humans and intelligent systems interact. Together, we’re building the commercialization channels that ensure these innovations reach operators, industries, and civilians where they can make the greatest impact.”
By aligning scientific leadership with venture-grade commercialization, IHMC and Conduit are advancing a “better together” model that preserves research excellence while unlocking sustainable market pathways that expand both the societal and economic value of discovery.
IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the State of Florida where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, the National Science Foundation and many others.
Research platforms aim to better support military personnel in high-stress environments
Operational medicine is a common theme in Dr. Jeff Phillips’ research.
His expertise in the effect of common aviation stressors (i.e. hypoxia) on operator performance dates back decades. In this newest iteration of his work, Phillips and his team are researching ways to support military operations and maximize human potential in extreme environments.
The goal of a servicemember making better decisions and reacting faster in a challenging scenario calls for a new generation of psychometric tests that gather human performance metrics.
Two recent projects Phillips has led at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) have shown promise to elicit and track the data needed to make the next generation of warfighters safer and better able to perform tasks with immense physical and cognitive demands in extreme environments.
“What we’re doing here is trying to make psychometric tools that fit the bill for these specific stressors and states that we’re interested in,” Phillips says. “The traditional battery of psychometric tests do not measure tasks that are germane to flying or to the real-world demands that special operations ground forces encounter.”
Take for example, hypoxia.
“If I expose you to 25,000 feet or the equivalent barometric pressure, I have three to five minutes to evaluate you,” Phillips says. “We have scores of psychometric tools, but most of them are 10 to 20 minutes long and they’re intended to measure traits, consistent aspects of human behavior — like personality, as opposed to transient states — like hypoxia, motion sickness, or fatigue.”
Tracking aviators’ stressors
The U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine developed the Cognitive Assessment of Aviation Performance and Evaluation of State (CAAPES) as a psychometric tool to track the effects of environmental stressors on aviators.
CAAPES began as part of the Air Force’s efforts to understand instances where aviators fell like they were deprived of oxygen without obvious physical or mechanical cause. These episodes can be caused by hypoxia, hypocapnia, fatigue, gravity-induced loss of consciousness, spatial disorientation and dehydration.
IHMC has used CAAPES has filled in several gaps, including developing a new way to measure tracking performance in a shorter time intervals, updating graphics, and improved capture performance reliability.
This video-game like evaluation platform sets a baseline for cognitive function by having users track targets, shoot at them while simultaneously performing three other sub tasks. Using the platform after a subconcussive brain injury could help note changes in cognitive function, as one example for a use-case.
IHMC has used CAAPES to test performance under various stressors, including hypoxia, dehydration, and hypercapnia. The results show that CAAPES can track if performance impacts are the result of stress alone or if it is the result of an interaction between stress and workload.
That’s a distinction that is crucial for personalizing training and improving aviators’ tolerance of high-G stress circumstances.
“The UPE crisis is no longer a crisis,” Phillips says. “We’ve done a lot of investigations. We’ve concluded that it’s probably safer now to be a fighter pilot than ever before. But we’re also pushing the limits of human physiology more now than ever before because we’re going higher and at a faster ascent rate. Understanding more about this is key to continue to innovate in pilot safety.”
Subhead: Tracking demands on ground forces
The Cognitive Enhancement Resources for Battlefield Resiliency and Optimization (CEREBRO) aims to improve how cognitive performance and marksmanship are assessed and trained.
It is aimed at Special Operations Command ground forces.
“These operators are very good at what they do,” Phillips says. “The U.S. military spends millions on each guy before they are in their first firefight. They try to train them to automate everything that they need to do to make decisions, but there’s just no real way to predict how that person will react when it’s a real situation until you are in the situation.”
Meanwhile, there grew a desire to develop better metrics that could be used to track the effects of subconcussive brain injuries in a more real-world testing environment.
The CEREBRO platform is born of those twin tracks.
IHMC is a subcontractor for the project to BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems Inc. Year one saw the IHMC team focus on designing the methodology and the scenario of the test.
The test tasks were developed on an immersive shoot simulation environment with particular focus on stimulus timing, response capture, and task logic. The goal is to more closely mimic the kind of environment in which military personnel are expected to perform.
Year two is about refining those methodologies with layers of increasing complexity, including developing a trail-making task for the virtual platform as well as shoot-don’t shoot scenarios in challenging visual environments.
One of the CEREBRO scenarios could mimic, for example, the view as a servicemember stands watch over a base keeping an eye out for a signal or stimulus coming from a predefined area of interest in the field of view.
“If you see a red dot in this area, you have to make sure they’re not trying to sneak drones through this pass right here,” Phillips says. “So if you see a red dot, rules of engagement require a human in the loop to confirm a kill shot within one half a second before a missile hits the base.
In the old paradigm, you had to present a stimulus and it had to be missed to get a negative score, Phillips says. “But now I have an eye tracking system and an area of interest that I can marry that to, and I can measure visual discipline and tell if you’re looking where you’re supposed to look or not,” he says.
This vigilance concept is big across the human problem space, he says. It is not difficult to imagine many situations where you just have somebody awaiting a critical signal while overlooking a field crowded with visual stimuli.
“We hope that over time we can train vigilance,” Phillips says. “It can be trained as kind of a meditation where you use the task itself as an anchor.”
Study for U.S. Air Force Research Lab tracks impact of ketones on pilot ventilation
Military aviators breathe rarefied air — figuratively and literally.
They operate elite aircraft at altitude in stressful conditions with protections in place to ensure that the atmosphere they breathe in flight helps ensure their physical and cognitive performance doesn’t suffer in the extreme conditions they are asked to navigate.
Finding ways to ensure proper ventilation in pilots is what underlies an ongoing research project at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. It aims to assess the effects of exogenous ketones on operator ventilation.
“When you’re dealing with these oxygen delivery systems in the aircraft, typically the failures are intermittent,” says Research Scientist Dr. David Morris, part of the study team led by Senior Research Scientist Dr. Jeff Phillips. “It’s not total failure of the system, but because of the way they’re designed, you can get reductions in oxygen flow from time to time for periods of time.”
For nearly two decades, unexplained physiological episodes (UPEs) have been a challenge to aviators. Studies have identified a few factors that may play a role in UPEs:
- Hypobaria (low ambient pressures)
- Breathing hyperoxic (high oxygen level) gas
- Obstructive breathing resistance
- Hypocapnia (low blood carbon dioxide levels) associated with hypobaria, hyperoxia, and breathing resistance.
Military aviators wear oxygen masks that allow them to breathe hyperoxic air, a standard operating strategy that provides adequate oxygen in flight and protects against decompression sickness in case of sudden depressurization of the aircraft.
Breathing this hyperoxic air causes hyperventilation, breathing out more carbon dioxide than the body produces. Since carbon dioxide helps regulate blood flow to the brain, a deficit of it in the bloodstream can reduce blood flow to the brain. It also raises your blood’s pH which makes the affinity of oxygen to hemoglobin so high that the oxygen doesn’t get released from the red blood cells to get to the actual tissue to support metabolic processes. Paradoxically, breathing hyperoxic gas may result in reduced oxygen delivery to the brain and lead to a UPE.
The hypothesis for the ongoing IHMC study is that drinking exogenous ketones will lower the body’s pH and increase metabolic production of carbon dioxide when compared to a placebo and mitigate the potential impacts on aviators’ physiology.
The early results are promising.
“We believe that this could be a way to help make our aviators safer and offer them some metabolic protection, if you will, from the effects of hypocapnia at altitude,” Morris says. “By helping maintain carbon dioxide levels in the blood, we hope that we can offer a buffer for aviators to help protect them against possible UPEs.”
Morris says that participants on the ketones were able to maintain more normal breathing. On the placebo, participants’ breathing just stayed flat even after they transition from hyperoxia to hypoxia and their blood oxygen levels dropped.
“On the ketones, not only did they maintain higher ventilation volumes during hypoxia, that hypoxic ventilatory response happened almost immediately. On the carbohydrates, it was delayed,” Morris says.
The findings could be applicable to other warfighters who work at altitude as well as have impacts mitigating the risk of frostbite and freeze-related injuries.
“From a physical standpoint, if you have more oxygen in the blood, typically you’re going to maintain better blood flow to your fingers and toes, especially in cold environments” Morris says.
Some evidence also suggests that exogenous ketones may help to alleviate a condition known as hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction.
In this condition, the blood vessels in the lungs constrict in response to hypoxia which causes the blood pressure in the lungs to rise. This causes a couple of problems. In the short term, fluid is forced from the bloodstream and into the lungs, causing a potentially deadly condition known as high-altitude pulmonary edema.
If the person’s hypoxia is caused by a chronic lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the pulmonary hypertension can become chronic and lead to heart failure.
“We’re currently looking for funding to pursue this line of research,” Phillips says. “We think the possibilities are exciting.”
National Institute on Aging funded study tracks changes to gait as we age
Some people call it “walking on ice”— the careful steps and slower pace that older people take on when they walk.
Biomechanically it is a way to prioritize stability over economy — we slow down to decrease the chances we will fall and use our hips more than we use our ankles.
But “walking on ice” costs our bodies more metabolically and reduces walking speed, both of which have downstream consequences for healthspan. Learning more about that intersection is the heart of a recent award by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) researchers Dr. Greg Sawicki and Dr. Zach Graham.
Research Scientist Dr. Zachary Graham
The $3.2 million award, run through Sawicki’s lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola will focus on Identifying Multi-Scale Mechanisms for Age-Related Increase in Metabolic Cost of Walking (ID-MET).
“Mobility serves as a surrogate for well-being with age-related limits to walking function that include increased energy cost and decreased speed,” says Graham. “We want to understand more about how multiple systems interact as we age.”
Sawicki, whose home-base is the Human Physiology of Wearable Robotics Laboratory at Georgia Tech, was part of an expert panel convened by the NIA in 2021 to identify gaps in our knowledge about why mobility declines as we age. From that gathering, a key age-related difference in walking function emerged — the source of mechanical power generated by muscles to walk is redistributed within the leg from ankles to hips.
Scientists refer to this as the ‘distal-to-proximal shift, Graham says.
Senior Research Scientist Greg Sawicki
The goal of the IHMC study is to take a multi-scale approach to understanding the causes and consequences of that shift.
“We’ve pulled together a strong team that will combine traditional whole-body and joint-level biomechanics with tissue-level physiological data — including molecular analysis of key locomotor muscles — to understand the full cascade of age-related changes contributing to slow, effortful walking,” Sawicki says.
Data suggest walking function begin to sharply decline at age 60. This cross-sectional observational study will shed light on how this phenomenon plays out in the body and ultimately will aid in design of more effective interventions to keep us all walking vigorously into our 80’s and beyond.
“I look forward to connecting our sites with other study sites at Johns Hopkins and UMass-Amherst to share data and insights and make them available to other scientists, clinicians and engineers for maximum impact.” Sawicki says.
If you are interested in being a participant in this study, visit our study participation page to learn more.
IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.
Meet Alex, IHMC’s next generation humanoid robot
Alex is going out into the world.
The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s newly developed robot is the latest chapter in IHMC’s long history of excellence and innovation in the field of humanoid robotics. It takes the lessons of years of work on integrated controls and behaviors as well as in-house hardware design to prioritize out-of-the-lab testing and experimentation.
Alex is a multi-year, multimillion dollar project funded through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). It builds upon the design work the Robotics team did on Nadia, a humanoid that advanced the genre — and gained YouTube notoriety playing ping pong and boxing.
Nadia’s proficiency with behavior, decision-making, push-recovery and more in the lab informed the team’s work moving forward. Nadia was a rich testbed not only for the structural specifications of the humanoid — from joints to actuators — but also for the software that drives behavior capabilities, perception sensing, virtual reality teleoperation, and more.
Senior Research Scientist Dr. Robert Griffin leads the Alex team. Their work is featured in the latest edition of IHMC’s newsletter, available now.
“The idea is to really start pushing the robot to go outside of the lab and develop it into a system that we can take places and test what we’ve developed.” Griffin says.
The research goals enabled by the ONR funding include design and integration of next-generation controllers for outdoor urban operations, enhanced design of behaviors for building exploration, integration of a behavior cloning pipeline, and improved simulation environment.
The goal is for Alex and its successors to be hardy and nimble enough ultimately to operate in extreme environments where the risk to human responders is high, from military scenarios to disaster response.
A key innovation in Alex is the high-powered custom actuators, which significantly drop the humanoid’s weight compared to Nadia, which weighed about 100 kilograms. The estimate is that Alex will weigh 85 kilograms with a battery.
“Long-term, we think we can make the body itself a lot lighter, allowing us to really focus on high speed and performance,” Griffin says.
The capabilities that allow humanoids like Alex to act as deeply integrated team members in a squad also could translate to other scenarios. Maneuverability, durability, autonomy and search skills can allow Alex to serve as a human avatar first-responder in disaster situations, keeping emergency personnel in relative safety.
“We think Alex will help advance the abilities of humanoids and their speed of operation, with the goal of achieving human-level speeds so that robots can keep up with the tempo of real-world operations,” Griffin says.
Decades of AI-expertise fuel growth of National Center for Collaborative Autonomy
Recent military conflicts around the world have underscored the growing importance of autonomous systems, including drones, in modern warfare.
In the civilian world, the impact of autonomous systems is equally profound and is expected to grow dramatically. Collaborative autonomy will enable everything from self-driving vehicles to space exploration and much more.
Controlling and coordinating these interconnected human-machine systems, and maximizing their utility and efficacy in the air, on land, underwater, and even in space, will be critical to protecting the nation’s security and economic interests.
An award secured by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) has the Institute poised to continue to be a leader of this initiative, creating a center of research excellence in cooperative human-machine teaming, a research area focused on optimizing the ability of these systems to work together with humans.
The National Center for Collaborative Autonomy (NCCA) leverages and expands IHMC’s internationally recognized expertise in AI and autonomous systems, human-machine teaming, communications networking, collaborative federated multidomain autonomy in uncertain communication environments, human factors, and related disciplines. The story is highlighted in the most recent edition of the IHMC newsletter, available now.
Dr. Niranjan Suri is part of the team leading the growth of the National Center for Collaborative Autonomy at IHMC.
This $6.7 million award from the Triumph Gulf Coast Board will establish and support multiple areas of research, add technology-centered jobs to the regional economy, and advance innovation in the Northwest Florida region.
Triumph is the nonprofit corporation funded by a legal settlement with BP following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Its purpose is to seed projects that will transform the regional economy. The NCCA is poised to do just that, says Dr. Morley Stone, IHMC’s Chief Executive Officer.
“The National Center for Collaborative Autonomy could have a generational impact not only on the regional economy, but also on military response, disaster response, and much more,” Stone says. “Improving the way humans and machines learn and team together is one of our foundational pillars. No one knows more about this work than the IHMC team. This award will allow us to elevate the research that we do in order to get the maximum benefit for our national security and first responder communities.
“Triumph Gulf Coast is once again making a significant investment in IHMC and in the future of this region as a center of excellence in science and technology,” Stone says.
THE FUTURE OF WARFARE — AND MORE
Momentum for the Center comes at a time when it is increasingly clear that unmanned aerial vehicles are changing the future of warfighting dramatically. Dr. Niranjan Suri, IHMC’s Associate Director, says the war in Ukraine shows this starkly.
“The practice of warfare is fundamentally changed by what we see in Ukraine in the use of drones,” he says. “And we know that our adversaries know this as well. The only way to scale this up is to have autonomy, but autonomy of a single platform is not sufficient. We need all of these platforms to start collaborating with each other.”
Where in the past one unmanned aerial vehicle was controlled by one operator, future strategies will mean moving away from that 1-1 ratio toward systems that allow individual operators to manage multiple UAVs — and that will require even larger groups of UAVs to be able to communicate and collaborate among each other.
Dr. Matt Johnson
The NCCA’s work will also draw upon research into reasoning under uncertainty and teaming intelligence, both areas where IHMC has deep expertise. Dr. Matt Johnson has decades of experience in making human-machine teams more flexible, resilient and effective.
“The NCCA is partly focused on the scaling problem,” Johnson says. “In order to get more bang for your buck (these robotic systems) you need them to do things autonomously and to do that, they need to be able to see the world for themselves and be able to interpret what they’re seeing, and they need to be able to make their own decisions. All of that should be in the context of a human directed goal,” Johnson says. If you don’t, one-to-one control is going to be your limit and that’s just not very useful.”
While military application is a primary initial focus, other applications for robust collaborative autonomous systems include disaster relief and other civilian applications.
Suri says collaborative autonomy will enable a fleet of vehicles surveying from the air and land to assess damage to infrastructure, enhance situation awareness and support logistics for relief efforts after a natural disaster — in a fraction of the time it would take boots on the ground to accomplish the same thing.
“It will allow us to know what has happened, where is the highest-priority need, and what do we need to do. We feel that collaborative autonomy will play a major role in that kind of disaster response scenarios,” Suri says.
The region’s substantial military research presence will be an important contributor to the NCCA’s development and sustained success. Northwest Florida is home to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, and the Navy Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, among others.
The NCCA also enhances a unique academic training opportunity thanks to IHMC’s partnership with the University of West Florida in the joint Intelligent Systems and Robotics Ph.D. program.
The NCCA also will bring together national partners with interests related to collaborative autonomy to help accelerate progress in the domain.
Johnson says that IHMC will host workshops to bring the leading experts in the field together to brainstorm and provide a vision for the future of collaborative autonomy.
A major goal is to demonstrate the value of Collaborative Autonomy and to foster future government programs that enhance U.S. capabilities with the NCCA partners leading the way, Johnson says.
“We are bringing together, of course, our expertise in robotics, AI, human-machine teaming and other traditional IHMC research areas,” Suri says. “This is, at its heart, a big part of what IHMC does. A new challenge comes up. We find what expertise we can draw on to help address the challenge. We assemble the team, and we go.”