DARPA has announced that it is soliciting proposals for the second “swarm sprint” for its OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program.

OFFSET envisions future small-unit infantry forces using small UAS and/or small unmanned ground systems (UGSs) in swarms of 250 robots or more to accomplish “diverse missions in complex urban environments.”

According to DARPA, each of the five core “sprints” focuses on one of the key thrust areas: Swarm Tactics, Swarm Autonomy, Human-Swarm Team, Virtual Environment, and Physical Testbed.

The second group of “Swarm Sprinters” will get the chance to work with one or both of the OFFSET Swarm Systems Integrator teams to develop and assess tactics, as well as algorithms, to enhance autonomy.

“As operations in urban environments continue to evolve, our warfighters need advanced capabilities to keep up with the ever-changing complexity of the urban scenario,” says Timothy Chung, program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO).

“The focus on enhancing autonomy in operational contexts will further advance future swarming capabilities allowing the warfighter to outmaneuver our adversaries in these complex urban environments.”

The second sprint will focus on enabling improved autonomy through enhancements of platforms and/or autonomy elements, with the operational backdrop of using a diverse swarm of 50 air and ground robots to “isolate an urban objective within an area of two city blocks over a mission duration of 15 to 30 minutes.”

Swarm Sprinters will use existing or develop new hardware components, algorithms, and/or primitives to enable unique capabilities that specifically demonstrate the advantages of a swarm when “leveraging and operating in complex urban environments.”

DARPA says that the conclusion of the second sprint is “aligned with a physical and virtual experiment,” where “sprinters” will be able to “more deeply integrate and demonstrate their technology developments.”

In an effort to further expand the capabilities relevant to operational contexts, the sprinters will have the chance to work with DARPA and the Swarm Systems Integrators.

The announcement for this second swarm sprint comes after contracts were awarded to the first cohort of OFFSET Swarm Sprinters. These entities include the University of Maryland, Carnegie Mellon University, Charles River Analytics, Inc., SoarTech, Inc., and Lockheed Martin, Advanced Technology Laboratories.

Each of these inaugural sprinters will focus on generating unique tactics for a “multi-faceted swarm of air and ground robots” in support of the mission to “isolate an urban objective, such as conducting reconnaissance, generating a semantic map of the area of operations, and/or identifying and defending against possible security risks.”