U.S. building robot co-pilots that don't panic or get tired

[Woxof38]

I just copied the title of the article. Reminds me of Otto Pilot
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/alias ... -1.3809932

[GyvAir]

Reminds me of something I read about in a book once.. I think it was called an "autopilot" or some newspeak word like that.

[openendwrench]

Won't the other pilot get tired and/or possibly panic?

[Rudy]

Won't the other pilot get tired and/or possibly panic?

Those are easily subdued if they get out of line.

[complexintentions]

An autopilot operating an autopilot.

That sounds like a great idea.

“Computers don’t make mistakes, but they execute yours perfectly.”

[Meatservo]

This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. So now, there's me, the other pilot, and the autopilot. At any time I can say "hey, here's what I'm thinking of doing" and the other pilot either agrees or disagrees, and then together we tell the autopilot to do it. Now, these Americans have invented a way to eliminate the other brain and replace it with another autopilot.

Here's another way of thinking about it. Let's say, absolute worst-case scenario, our co=pilot makes $25,000 a year. Now I suppose this person might fly 5 or 6 hundred hours a year, but let's again make it worst-case and assume 1200 hours a year. So basically, assuming 100 percent utilization, this robot saves us 20 dollars an hour, per plane. Less than 100 percent, even more. About what some executive counts on for his bonus. At a big airline, might even fund a "safety" department.

So let's call a spade a spade, eh? None of this shit is for "safety". Stop insulting our intelligence.

Last days of Rome, boys. Learn to play the fiddle.

[JungianJugular]

My CPL flight test is today. What's the point of continuing on now? . *throws paperwork in the air*

[Rockie]

Designing a robot to fly an airplane designed to be flown by humans?

Even without getting into the "pilotless" airplane debate that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Well, given the US election going on maybe not the stupidest....

[lownslow]

Pictured: cockpit of the future.

[ahramin]

It's a DARPA contract. They aren't trying to replace pilots, they are trying to advance robotics. Obviously the CEO of the company is going to make up any crap he can to try to get more money, but I very much doubt anyone involved in this project thinks these robots will be hired as pilots.

[MrWings]

If the robot pilot can sweep the snow off the wing, wrap up the engine blankets, clean the cabin at the end of the day and bring me coffee, I'm all for it!

[VSF]

[pelmet]

Hey that's a cool copilot. Can you give me more details on the inflation procrdure?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WQfZYacEAw

[7ECA]

Hey that's a cool copilot. Can you give me more details on the inflation procrdure?

Ahem, only an FA will do...

[rxl]

Do any of these sh!? for brains AI people ever consider for a moment what all the 7+ billion warm bodies on this planet are going to do when their hard work eliminates us altogether and their machines become self-aware?

[ahramin]

Do any of these sh!? for brains AI people ever consider for a moment what all the 7+ billion warm bodies on this planet are going to do when their hard work eliminates us altogether and their machines become self-aware?

About the same thing that people did when some idiot invented a power loom.

[7ECA]

http://what-if.xkcd.com/5/

[Panama Jack]

These are going to be really attractive for Navajo and other 703 flying jobs, assuming they can be bought for less than the cost of a real pilot . . . oh, jeez, that's unlikely.

[photofly]

I hope for the sake of realism they program the robot to bitch about WAWCONs, check its seniority three times per flight and post on AvCanada. Say, wait a minute...

[rxl]

About the same thing that people did when some idiot invented a power loom.[/quote]

I think this step forward in technology (AI) has the potential to be just a tad bit more impactful than that.

[200hr Wonder]

So let me get this strait they programmed a robot that gets input from sensors that read flat panel displays that get their input from sensors. They have invented the first robot to control the AFCS! Or perhaps the robot controls the aircraft through the actual pedals and yoke in which case they have fed information from one sensor to a much less accurate sensor to control it through pulleys, turn buckles and servos. Sounds like an autopilot autopilot... Pretty sure the reason there are two pilots is not because we can not fly an airplane all by our lonesome but because we screw up ALL the time (at least I do), so we keep the second guy to look over the shoulder of the first guy. When AI becomes advanced enough to do the looking over the shoulder it will be much easier to integrate the AI right into the flight controls... "I am sorry Dave I can not allow you to do that..." heck to an extent Airbus does that! This is just some due looking for government money that has never really flown an commercial airplane.

[Meatservo]

It's an "auto copilot". It's subordinate to the actual autopilot.