Image: A human operator is providing mission goals and supervision to a team of robots during a Darpa subterranean challenge deployment inside a natural cave system. Image: Katrina Lo Surdo.

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, will be part of reinventing the way humans and Artificial Intelligence work together, contributing to global efforts to design a completely new capability called ‘Collaborative Intelligence’.

The newly launched $12 million Collaborative Intelligence (CINTEL) Future Science Platform aims to move beyond machines replacing people or automating their jobs, and instead to create teams that maximise the benefits of both human and machine intelligence. 

One of CINTEL’s first projects will draw on the expertise of CSIRO’s Robotics and Autonomous Systems Group who recently claimed a silver medal in the international DARPA Subterranean Challenge. The challenge, which has been described as the ‘robot Olympics’, involved using teams of robots to explore and locate objects in unmapped underground environments under the supervision of a human operator.  

Above: Dr Cecil Paris is CSIRO’s collaborative Intelligence Leader

CINTEL Leader Dr Cécile Paris said lessons from the challenge could help inform future human/robot teaming. 

“The project will focus on developing a richer, dynamic human-robot collaboration, enabling humans and robots to respond in real time to changes in the environment and make better decisions, together,” Dr Paris said.  

“CINTEL will research dynamic situation awareness and mechanisms to ensure a collaborative dialogue between humans and robots throughout, for example, a rescue mission.  

“Rescue missions are often ill defined and dynamic, and the humans must use their own knowledge and skills, like reasoning, intuition, adaptation and experience, to identify what the robots should be doing. CINTEL will investigate how humans can fully utilise their unique skillset in collaboration with the robots for successful outcomes.” 

Other early CINTEL projects include developing a digital team member to help scientists make sense of the massive amount of information in modern biological collections and supporting cybersecurity analysts with collaborative surveillance. 

The program will be run by CSIRO in collaboration with research and impact partner Saber Astronautics, as well as Emesent, the Queensland AI Hub, TAFE Queensland, Aged Care Industry Technology Council, Global Community Resourcing, the Department of Defence, the Queensland University of Technology, and researchers from Monash University and the University of Sydney.  


Dr Paris said CINTEL program’s goal is to leverage the fundamental differences between human and machine intelligence to ensure the best outcomes. 

“We’re used to hearing about machines competing with humans in games like chess.  

“But what isn’t as well known is that humans collaborating with AI have proven superior to both the best AI systems and human chess players. 

“Human intelligence is creative and adaptable, while machine intelligence is more specific and able to handle vast amounts of data,” Dr Paris said. 

“For many problems, particularly those that involve complex, changeable and difficult-to-define contexts, we are likely to get better results if we design AI systems explicitly to work with human partners, rather than attempting to do the job themselves.  

“This requires a new way of thinking, both about how we design AI systems and how workers across different occupations and industries should work with them,” Dr Paris said. 

Collaborative intelligence moves beyond the idea of machines replacing people or even just ‘keeping people in the loop’, aiming instead to unlock completely new capability by creating teams that maximise the benefits of both types of intelligence. 

“This is the next scientific frontier of digital transformation,” Dr Paris said.  

CINTEL will run for four years and will bring together behavioural and social scientists with computer, robotics and domain experts to develop the general-purpose technology needed to facilitate collaborative human/machine teams.  

The program is part of CSIRO’s Future Science Platforms portfolio, aimed at dedicating research to new and emerging opportunities for Australia.

First published by CSIRO

Image: Shutterstock

Australia and the United States have signed a landmark statement of intent to cooperate and share in the enormous opportunities and benefits that world-leading quantum science and technology advancements present.

The Joint Statement of the United States of America and Australia on Cooperation in Quantum Science and Technology strengthens Australia and the United States’ ability to exchange quantum knowledge and skills.

The statement creates more opportunities to promote research and development, and encourages greater market access for quantum businesses in both nations.

Minister for Science and Technology Melissa Price said signing the joint statement recognises the role quantum will have in helping solve global challenges.

“As a critical technology that will shape our world for years to come, quantum technology offers incredible opportunities for Australia and the United States,” Minister Price said.

“This joint statement with the United States builds on our already strong strategic partnership when it comes to science and technology and will help us build a quantum future together.

“Quantum technologies will help us overcome significant challenges that current computers struggle to solve, will help make our day-to-day lives safer and more convenient, and create more secure communications technologies.

“This is an important step forward for advancing quantum technologies in both Australia and the US, and will create more opportunities for Australian business and researchers to leverage the opportunities this technology will create.”

The President’s Science Advisor and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Dr. Eric Lander signed the joint statement in Washington.

“I am delighted to affirm the United States and Australia’s commitment to work together to develop a healthy international marketplace for quantum technologies and grow the workforce for this emerging area,” Dr Lander said.

“Jointly exploring new frontiers in quantum information science will accelerate discoveries and enable revolutionary approaches to computing, sensing, and networking that will benefit all of society.”

The LTS-640V is a digital imaging machine little bigger than a DSLR camera that provides real time imagery that helps quantify material stress and detect fatigue cracks that could prove dangerous if unchecked.

The LTS-640V is designed to be used during the certification stage before an aircraft is approved for
commercial or military use. The capability it provides will allow for a potentially more streamlined
certification process, and should help eliminate some of the surprises that can occur during testing of
a new aircraft structure.

The technology was developed in collaboration with scientists at the Australian Department of Defence
where a prototype of this technology has helped support sustainment of the F/A-18 Classic Hornet, and
more recently provided Lockheed Martin Aeronautics with valuable new information during structural
certification testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Australian invention is the first of its kind, providing real time fusion of stress and visible spectrum
imaging – in effect merging the visible with the invisible.

“This inspection approach is based on the ‘thermoelastic effect’; put simply, when you squash something
it heats up, when you stretch something it cools down,” said a spokesperson for the Department of
Defence.

“Think of magic spray which is often used to treat sports injuries – it’s the stretching or expansion of
the gas as it leaves the aerosol can that provides the cooling effect.

“Unlike magic spray however, the temperature changes we’re dealing with are tiny, thousandths of a
degree, but we can still detect them, and quite easily using the advanced algorithms at the core of this
technology,” they said.

This capability has a significant role to play in helping aircraft designers and operators better understand
how an airframe performs under load.

“The technology can improve our ability to quantify stresses, particularly in structurally critical areas
where traditional technologies have very limited capability,” the spokesperson said.

With $275,000 of grant funding, the design team at 1MILLIKELVIN have transformed this groundbreaking
capability into a robust commercial product.

“We are looking to help streamline and improve structural validation processes across the global defence
and aeronautics industries’, says Mr Kheang Khauv, Managing Director of 1 MILLIKELVIN, manufacturer
of the LTS-640V technology.

“This technology has been used to support the Classic Hornet and has demonstrated in the F-35 full
scale durability test program how it can improve the way designers validate modelling of complex
airframe components.

“We are proud our advanced technology is making a contribution to Defence capability,” he said.
Potential applications of the technology extend well beyond aviation, with potential customers including
a wide range of industries both in Australia and around the world.