Five of the eight interdisciplinary research teams selected by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy that include faculty from the Department of Computer Science are now completing work supported by Challenge Grants that began in 2023. These grants support high-impact projects focused on the existential challenges of assurance and autonomy.
“Building on the success of the IAA’s earlier seed grants—which effectively engaged researchers in addressing the challenges of assuring autonomous and artificial intelligence systems—the Challenge Grants channeled that momentum toward emerging opportunities in transportation, health care, space, and critical infrastructure,” explains James Bellingham, the executive director of the IAA.
John C. Malone Assistant Professor of Computer Science Chien-Ming Huang and Ariel Greenberg, a senior staff scientist and project manager at the Applied Physics Laboratory, studied the conceptual and technological advances required to enable artificial agents to act with prosocial intent. Focused on designing machines that seek opportunities to help while preventing harm, the team explored how much sensitivity artificial agents need to determine whether they understand a scene well enough to intervene ethically without human guidance.
A team led by Assistant Professor Anqi “Angie” Liu and I-Jeng Wang, an assistant research professor in the department and a research scientist at APL, looked at how to ensure that cities and their critical infrastructures are resilient when under threat extreme events such as natural and manmade disasters.
Yinzhi Cao, an associate professor of computer science and the technical director of the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute, and Tamim Sookoor, senior professional staff at APL, studied how to ensure that cities are resilient to threats posed by climate change, population growth, hackers, and other adversaries.
A team led by Homewood Distinguished Professor of Computer Science Krishan Sabnani and Ed Pavelka, senior professional staff at APL, focused on connected transportation systems and how to bring together experts across industries to ensure that vehicles with advanced autonomy behave in safe, reasonable, and acceptable ways.
Finally, Peter Kazanzides, a research professor of computer science, and Amy Haufler, a senior human machine engineer at APL, brought a team together with the aim of enabling partners to establish a community focused on a sustained and responsible presence on the Moon through autonomous capabilities.
Learn more about the rest of the Challenge Grant teams here.