If you were a fighter pilot in the USA, you would soon have your own R2D2 from Star Wars

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Researchers from the USA have developed an AI assistant that only needs an astromech body from Star Wars to achieve sci-fi perfection.

Does the US now have astromechs in fighter jets? No, there is no R2D2 sitting behind the pilots in F35 or F22 fighter jets of the US Air Force or other branches of the United States armed forces. But a first step in this direction has been taken with the prototype of the Virtual Intelligent Pear-Reasoning agent, also known as VIPR.

What is VIPR? VIPR is a virtual co-pilot for aircraft crews who can also take control of the aircraft. It is not known whether he can independently fire weapons or select targets. However, the article from the developer, the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University, does not suggest this.

John Winder, a computer scientist at APL who is co-leading the project, refers in the text to the famous astromech droid R2D2. He loyally stands by Anakin Skywalker and later his son Luke – whether on the road or in the cockpit of starfighters.

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What can VIPR do? Of course, we do not have any technical documentation, but according to APL, the following is possible:

  • Acceptance of voice commands
  • The role of a co-pilot to assist in handling aircraft systems
  • Active control of the jet and smooth switching from pilot to co-pilot and vice versa
  • Communication with members of the combat unit (Rotte)
  • Parallel control of several unmanned aircraft in conjunction with your own jet
  • Continuous, constant monitoring of the airspace around the aircraft (radar, cameras, etc.)
  • Perception of the pilot’s cognitive state
  • Assessing the pilot’s intentions before actively giving orders

    • Is VIPR already in use everywhere? No, only tests have been run so far, but everyone who has tried it has been pretty enthusiastic. And according to the team, it even seems to make untrained people competitive, as one of the lead developers explains:

    I, as a non-pilot, can survive for maybe eight seconds in a virtual simulation. With VIPR, I win.

    John Winder, APL

    When will VIPR be widely used? That is not known. The next step will be flight tests in real aircraft with real, external fighter pilots from the armed forces. So far, only internally employed people who have also been trained as fighter pilots seem to have tested VIPR in the simulator.

    Artificial intelligence can already do a lot these days – including helping with cheating. In another article on MeinMMO, we tell you about the daring plan of a university applicant in Turkey. What he tried in a state exam will probably stay with him for the rest of his life: His attempt to cheat with a camera, cell phone and AI failed, but the police were certainly impressed.

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