UDT 2020 Consciousness in Autonomous Systems Hannah Thomas 1 , Emma - PDF document

UDT 2020 UDT Extended Abstract Template Presentation/Panel UDT 2020 – Consciousness in Autonomous Systems Hannah Thomas 1 , Emma Parkin 2 1 MMathCompSci, L3Harris, Portsmouth, United Kingdom 2 Meng, L3Harris, Portsmouth, United Kingdom Abstract — Standards of artificial intelligence have evolved rapidly with technology over time and today machines are expected to collaborate in more and more complex environments. Operating safely in dynamically changing surroundings and interacting with humans requires a certain level of consciousness. For the purpose of this paper consciousness is defined as 'the state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings'. We propose a knowledge pyramid to formally describe the steps required for an autonomous system to acquire consciousness. The pyramid consists of four steps:  Ingest (potentially huge amounts of) data from diverse sources which may contain different types of information in different formats  Convert each set of data into useful information about the surrounding environment, filtering out noise-  Combine this data to generate situational awareness  Convert this situational awareness into wisdom to evaluate the best course of action With over 20 years ’ experience of developing Autonomous Surface Vehicles, ASV, a subsidiary of L3Harris understands the human-machine relationship intimately. With nearly 2000 days of on water testing the team has experienced first-hand how readily operators trust machines, as can be seen all around in everyday life. It is imperative to match this trust with trust-worthiness and in autonomous systems, this can only be achieved with - consciousness. Their autonomous control system, ASView, has been tested in a range of environments: missions have been conducted in day and night, calm and rough seas, open water, quiet locations and busy ports with dense traffic. Each of these settings poses its own challenges, and L3Harris’ systems are required to be consistently reliable. Recent advancements in technology at L3Harris have increased the level of consciousness achievable in the system. This paper describes the process of achieving consciousness in autonomous systems today, as well as discussing practical challenges, drawing on examples from L3Harris’ implementation. 1 Introduction and exercising human-like judgement in situations where there is no obvious right course of action. Maritime autonomy, in particular Unmanned and In situations where there is no obvious ‘right’ answer a Autonomous Surface Vehicles (USVs / ASVs), is not new, having been around since 1990s. What is new is the compromise may have to be made and people make advancements in technology changing how autonomy can decisions based on personal preference, for example, a be achieved. We now have the ability to store and process preferred type of manoeuvre. In [3], Raymond et al vast amounts of data cheaply [1], making it possible for an propose an argumentation framework to aid conflict autonomous system to process and interpret more data resolution in maritime navigation, in which they describe such a set of preferenc es as a “culture”. In order to act about its surrounding environment in real-time than according to such a “culture” a system requires a level of previously. In short, it is now possible to bring more consciousness into autonomous systems than before. consciousness beyond the minimum information necessary for following COLREGs. It must assess the Over time, as new vessels have been introduced to the situation according to the wider context of its own culture. water, navigation practice has adapted to avoid collisions at sea. [2] notes how in mid-90s, the advent of steam- If we look to aviation and automotive industries, it must be powered ships induced the need for updated conventions noted how much more their infrastructure is developed to to handle their increased manoeuvrability over sailing accommodate autonomous systems. [4] describes how vessels. Today’s code of practice is set out in the aviation routes are pre-defined ahead of a flight and COLREGs (Convention on the International Regulations governed through air traffic control. Road satellite for Preventing Collisions at Sea), which currently have no navigation systems have access to crowdsource data to specific rules for unmanned vessels. provide regular updates [5]. Nonetheless, even in more mature environments such as these, consciousness is still While this may well change in future, at present ASVs required for true autonomy in order to react to unexpected must abide by the same rules as manned vessels. ASVs situations, such as obstacles appearing along the intended must, therefore, exhibit the behaviour of a human operator. navigation path. This means signalling clear navigational intent to others

UDT 2020 Presentation/Panel UDT Extended Abstract Template For the foreseeable future, there will likely always be a human operator somewhere in the communication loop of managing an ASV. For as long as this is the case, the operator must be able to understand the system’s decisions, particularly in complex scenarios. The field of Decision Explainable AI (XAI) [6] has recently grown out of the Making Artificial Intelligence community with many researchers turning their focus to developing systems with enough Situational Awareness consciousness to explain how and why their decisions are made [3]. This development could see the human-machine relationship transform. Information Furthermore the reaction speed of a machine is much faster than that of a human. In vehicle autonomy, this could be Data critical for safety in some situations. For this reason autonomous systems capable of making their own decisions and having trust from the operator to carry them out may become necessary as ASVs become more widely Each step in the pyramid is described as follows: used. 1) Data are facts collected from on-board sensors and other sources, which are unorganised and L3Harris works to educate customers in the current state unprocessed of play and the responsibility of the user when interacting 2) Information is data that has been processed in a with autonomy today. Whilst it remains to be seen how way that provides useful descriptions for human-machine interaction, maritime infrastructure, understanding the surrounding environment regulations and resources will evolve, and the level of 3) Situational awareness (SA) is the result of consciousness ultimately required in autonomous vessels combining and connecting information and using is unknown, it is clear that some “basic” level of it to understand the surrounding environment consciousness certainly is required. 4) Decision making is the process of applying situational awareness to take action The rest of this paper discusses the steps and challenges to developing consciousness in autonomous systems today. Section 2 of this paper will outline each step in detail with examples. 2 Achieving Consciousness in 2.1 Receiving Data Autonomous Systems An autonomous systems relies on its sensory inputs, any For the purpose of this paper, consciousness is defined as: external data feeds and any reference data to provide facts about the surrounding environment. Different sources will ‘ the state of being aware of and responsive to one's provide different facts. The key is to make sure enough surroundings ’ . inputs are available such that their (combined) data will provide sufficient information for the level of In order to achieve any level of consciousness, an consciousness required. autonomous system must obtain data containing information about its surrounding environment and use it The data available is dependent on the technology to evaluate the best course of action in response to a available, which may be dictated by the mission type or situation. practical factors, for example, weight restrictions may limit how many sensors can be placed on a mast or lack of The field of data science has produced many variations of internet access may prevent access to external sources. knowledge pyramids [7] describing how data can be turned Such restrictions may call for standardised, unified data into informed actions. We propose the following pyramid services to be accessible for autonomous vessels in future. to describe the process of an autonomous system acquiring consciousness: The L3Harris ASV system makes use of a range of sensors, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, among these: Radar (long- and short-range), LiDAR, EO/IR cameras, AIS receivers, IMUs and GPS antennas. Maps and chart models are referred to for additional data. Having multiple inputs with different utilities provides assurance the system will likely have enough information coverage as situations, such as environmental conditions, change. L3Harris’s autonomy also retrieves regular health data from various internal ship components.