Metamorphic Systems: A Schema for Adaptive Autonomous Systems

Abstract

Unmanned vehicles (UVs) are taking on increasing roles in military and space missions. These UVs operate in radically different domains, yet they have several common features: (1) they must survive in harsh domains for extended time periods, (2) they must adapt their behaviour to accommodate changing circumstances and (3) they must operate autonomously, which means they must perform assigned tasks with little or no human intervention. For instance, since August 2012 NASA’s scientific laboratory rover Curiosity has been exploring the Martian surface searching for signs of life (NASA, 2012). Martian surface temperatures average –63°C. As another example, the U.S. Navy is currently developing the Anti-submarine Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) to track quiet diesel-electric submarines. The goal is to have a UV that can autonomously interact with an intelligent adversary over ranges spanning thousands of kilometers while enduring harsh ocean environmental conditions for months at a time (DARPA, 2012).