ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The XVIII Airborne Corps’ quarterly innovation challenge encouraging soldiers to submit ideas to improve operations has been expanded to include competitors from all the military services.

Called “Dragon’s Lair,” the competition follows the format of Shark Tank, the popular TV show in which contestants present their ideas to wealthy investors in the hopes their ideas will get funded.

The company behind a next-generation hoist rescue stabilization system for aeromedical evacuations has won the fourth round of the Army’s xTechSearch competition.

Vita Inclinata Technologies of Broomfield, Colorado, was named the winner of xTechSearch 4.0 in a presentation Oct. 15 during AUSA Now, the association of the U.S. Army’s virtual annual meeting. The company will receive a $250,000 prize.

The fourth round of the Army’s xTechSearch competition is moving online, with demonstrations available via livestream beginning March 17.

The demonstrations were supposed to take place during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition March 17–19 in Huntsville, Alabama, but the event was canceled amid growing concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

From teaming with robots to reading minds, the Army Research Laboratory made some critical science and technology advancements last year.

Topping ARL’s 2019 list is soldier-robot teaming. Researchers were able to train robots to operate in unfamiliar scenarios using new algorithms and capabilities—an improvement in artificial intelligence that’s “unseen in the industry,” according to the Army. 

The Army’s recent policy change for intellectual property management aims to find a “balanced approach” for accessing new processes without stifling industry innovation.

“In a nutshell, the policy will provide the workforce the tools to better navigate this complex IP landscape, and it will make us more sophisticated customers and users of IP,” said Alexis Lasselle Ross, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for strategy and acquisition reform.

Gen. James C. McConville pledged May 2 that if confirmed to be the next Army chief of staff, he will “provide innovative ideas that will enhance the organization, training and equipping of the Army for great-power competition.”

Army vice chief of staff since June 2017, McConville has been one of the key uniformed leaders in the Army’s effort to streamline modernization and change the culture surrounding weapons acquisition.

Innovation through business process reengineering is central to U.S. Army Futures Command’s mission. This is an area where improvement through reengineering has the potential to improve just about everything the Army does, making it all cost less and happen faster.

A new program is coming to Innovator’s Corner at the 2018 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Association of the U.S. Army, and it includes the semifinal round of judging for xTechSearch, an Army program seeking new technology ideas from nontraditional defense partners.

AUSA 2018 will be held Oct. 8–10 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Innovator’s Corner will be at Booth 2361 in Hall B.

Machine learning and other artificial intelligence is likely to significantly expand military capabilities, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley said June 21 during a Capitol Hill National Security Forum.

Thinking, data-chewing machines that may even be capable of emotion will be a major influence on the military, with the biggest question being how fast the new technology is available and how it is adapted to military uses, Milley said. “It will have fundamental impact,” he said.