New office to oversee disruptive technology (ARMY NEWS)

Army has established an office within the Future Land Warfare Branch of Land Capability division to increase its adoption of disruptive technologies.

The role of the Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation Coordination Office (RICO) is exploration, coordination and concept development using disruptive technology.

Director General of Future Land Warfare Brigadier Ian Langford said the RICO was “consistent with the CA’s vision of being future-ready by looking for opportunities to integrate technology as well as becoming a more intelligent customer”.

The aim of the office is to build on the momentum of Army’s successes with disruptive technology last year. This included the demonstration of the ghost Robotics ground robot and the concept of optionally crewed combat vehicles (OCCVs).

The RICO will use specialist personnel with Army’s total workforce model to advance knowledge in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, robotics and autonomy.

The office will also focus on alternative power and energy, such as hybrid drive and additive manufacturing, along with autonomous leader-follower trucks and increasing experimentation with OCCVs.

“The opportunities presented by disruptive technology have to be understood early if we are to exploit our capability edge.” Brigadier Langford said.

This article originally appeared in the Army News Paper and is reposted with permission.

The recently established Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation Office (RICO) is responsible for pursuing Army’s interests in Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) / Artificial Intelligence (AI) and disruptive technologies and ethically leverage them to gain asymmetric advantage in the future operating environment.

The RICO will be releasing additional blog posts and articles in 2020, with topics including Quantum Technologies and Robotic Processing Automation.