Lockheed Martin and the Drone Racing League (DRL) recently announced an innovation competition that will challenge participants to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology that enables an autonomous UAS to not only race a pilot-operated UAS, but win.

Known as the AlphaPilot Innovation Challenge, the competition will see participating teams, made up of university students, technologists, coders and UAS enthusiasts, compete in a series of challenges for their share of over $2 million in prizes, as they seek to “push the boundaries of AI, machine learning (ML) and fully autonomous flight.”

“At Lockheed Martin, we are working to pioneer state-of-the-art, AI-enabled technologies that can help solve some of the world's most complex challenges – from fighting wildfires and saving lives during natural disasters to exploring the farthest reaches of deep space,” says Lockheed Martin Chief Technology Officer Keoki Jackson.

“Now, we are inviting the next generation of AI innovators to join us with our AlphaPilot Innovation Challenge. Competitors will have an opportunity to define the future of autonomy and AI and help our world leverage these promising technologies to build a brighter future.”

The goal of the AlphaPilot challenge is to “accelerate the development and testing of fully autonomous drone technologies,” according to Lockheed Martin and DRL.

With this in mind, participant’s will design an AI/machine learning framework that is powered by the NVIDIA Jetson platform for AI at the edge, and is capable of flying a UAS. This will be done without any pre-programming or human intervention, but instead through challenging multi-dimensional race courses in DRL's new Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing (AIRR) Circuit.

“Since 2016, DRL has been the proving ground for the world's most talented human pilots, showcasing their abilities to race remotely piloted drones at high speeds. This challenge changes the game,” says DRL CEO and Founder Nicholas Horbaczewski.

“How close is AI performance to the world's best human piloting? We're excited to find out next year when AlphaPilot drones compete in adrenaline-packed, futuristic drone races on complex courses in the AIRR Circuit. Our collaboration with Lockheed Martin will both accelerate AI innovation and redefine the sport of the future.”

The competition will open for entries in November. Undergraduate and graduate students, UAS enthusiasts, coders and other technologists interested in learning more and applying to participate can visit lockheedmartin.com/alphapilot.