2024 ARC Annual Review

Welcome! The Automotive Research Center presents this event to bring together members of the automotive research community from across academia, government and industry to share our latest research developments. It is an opportunity to share ideas, discuss Army-relevant efforts, and to leverage and transfer our efforts to industry.

This year, we co-host the Summit on Advancing Modeling and Simulation for Autonomous Ground Vehicles. SAMS AGV provides a venue for open conversations between users and developers of the modeling and simulation tools across government, industry, and academia. The goal of SAMS AGV is to understand the current landscape of modeling and simulation for AGVs and to define a roadmap to address the challenges of today and tomorrow. The SAMS AGV schedule will encourage broad discussion, networking, and relationship building that will lead to collaboration and innovative solutions.

Agenda

2024 Day 1 - June 5

9:00	Welcome and Opening Remarks Rogel Ballroom Dr. Bogdan Epureanu ARC Director, Professor, Roger L. McCarthy Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan Dr. David Gorsich Chief Scientist, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center
9:20	Keynote Rogel Ballroom M1 Acquisition in the Age of Army Digital Transformation and Drone Warfare COL Ryan A. Howell Program Manager, Main Battle Tank Systems, Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems
9:55	Keynote Rogel Ballroom Autonomy: From Abstraction to Reality Dr. Alvaro Velasquez Program Manager, Transfer from Imprecise and Abstract Models to Autonomous Technologies (TIAMAT), DARPA
10:30	Break
10:45	Case Study 1 Rogel Ballroom Through the Virtual Lens: Improving Human-Robot Team Performance via Training Reviews with a Virtual Spectator Interface
11:30	Case Study 2 Rogel Ballroom What's a Little Dirt in the Eye? Detection and Adaptive Planning for Off-Road Autonomous Navigation under Soiled Sensors
12:15 PM	Group Photo \| Lunch Rogel Ballroom \| Rogel Ballroom & Pendleton Room
1:30	Technical Session 1 (see matrix of parallel sessions) Rogel Ballroom \| Room 2210 \| Wolverine
3:30 - 6:30	ARC Technology Showcase Posters and Reception Rogel Ballroom and Pendleton Room

2024 Day 2 - June 6

9:00	Opening Remarks Rogel Ballroom Dr. Steven Ceccio Interim Dean of Engineering, Vincent T and Gloria M Gorguze Professor of Engineering, University of Michigan
9:10	Debate: Generative AI is the only way to truly autonomous systems Rogel Ballroom Dr. Dawn Tilbury Professor, Ronald D. and Regina C. McNeil Department Chair of Robotics, University of Michigan Dr. Dimitar Filev Senior Henry Ford Technical Fellow at Ford Motor Company (Retired) Dr. Henry Liu Director of Mcity, U. of Michigan Dr. Rada Mihalcea Michigan AI Director, Janice M. Jenkins Collegiate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan Moderators: Dr. Ram Vasudevan and Dr. Kira Barton Associate Directors, Automotive Research Center
10:20	Break
10:35	Technical Session 2 (see matrix of parallel sessions) Rogel Ballroom \| Room 2210 \| Wolverine
12:40 PM	Awards & Lunch Awards in Rogel Ballroom Announcing Winners of Best Student Poster Competition Announcing Recipient of ARC Excellence in Research Award (ARC-ERA) Celebration of Dr. Dawn Tilbury's election to the National Academy of Engineering Dr. David Gorsich, Chief Scientist, DEVCOM GVSC Dr. Ellen Arruda, Tim Manganello / Borg Warner Department Chair of Mechanical Engineering, U of M Dr. Justin Storms, Director of Engineering, Autonomy and Robotics at Refraction AI Dr. Bogdan Epureanu, ARC Director, Roger L. McCarthy Professor of Mechanical Engineering, U of M Lunch in Rogel Ballroom & Pendleton Room

	Summit on Advancing Modeling and Simulation for Autonomous Ground Vehicles (SAMS AGV)
2:15	Welcome and Opening Remarks Rogel Ballroom Dr. Daniel Carruth Associate Director, Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, Mississippi State University Dr. Bogdan Epureanu Director, Automotive Research Center, University of Michigan Dr. David Gorsich Chief Scientist, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center
2:30	Addressing DoD Challenges in Modeling and Simulation at the Automotive Research Center Rogel Ballroom Panel discussion with the Automotive Research Center thrust leaders; ARC efforts to address DoD challenges in M&S Panelists Dr. Jon Smereka Senior Technical Expert, Ground Vehicle Robotics, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center Dr. Paramsothy Jayakumar Senior Technical Expert, Analytics, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center Dr. Katie Sebeck Research Materials Engineer, Materials Application and Integration Team, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center Dr. Vamshi Korivi Technical Expert, Analytics, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center Dr. Matt Castanier Research Mechanical Engineer, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center Dr. Steve Rapp Senior Scientist, Analytics, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center
3:30	Break
3:45	Standards and Interoperability in Modeling and Simulation for Autonomous Ground Vehicles Rogel Ballroom Discussion of current efforts to support standardization, interoperability and portability of simulations Moderator: Mihir Acharya Panelists Mr. Aaron Prather Director of Robotics and Autonomous Systems Programs, ASTM International Mr. Karthik Krishnan Strategist North America, ASAM Dr. Seo-Wook Park Principal Application Engineer, MathWorks Dr. Rich Romano Staff Researcher, General Motors
4:45	ProjectGL: Lessons from Building a Modular and Extensible Simulation Software Framework Rogel Ballroom Mr. Jason Hogan Immersive Simulation, DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center
5:30	Networking / Social Event Pendleton Room

2024 Day 3 - June 7

9:00	Opening Remarks Rogel Ballroom Dr. Daniel Carruth Associate Director, Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, Mississippi State University

9:05	Keynote Speaker: Rogel Ballroom A Practitioner's Perspective on Next Generation Combat Vehicles Models & Simulations COL M. Ryan Howell Chief of Staff, Next Generation Combat Vehicle Cross-Functional Team
9:40	Industry Panel: Rogel Ballroom Discussion of industry support for M&S in off-road environments. Moderator: Daniel Carruth Panelists Mr. Joe Auchter Lead Engineer, Robotics, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Mr. Robert Belle-Isle Robotics Software Engineer, Neya Systems Mr. Brad Kriel Technical Program Manager, Duality AI Dr. David Kline Applied Intuition
10:40	Break
	Parallel Sessions
10:50	Main Room Technical Presentations Rogel Ballroom Session Chair: Sara Fuller Verification and Validation of Modeling and Simulation for Autonomous Systems A Case Study for VEET Dr. Peilin Song Research Mechanical Engineer, USACE Engineer Research and Development Center Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory Enable Offroad Autonomy using Integrated Simulation with MATLAB and Simulink Mihir Acharya & Julia Braught Mathworks Modeling & Simulation in Support of the US Army and the DoD – A NAMC Perspective Col. (Ret.) Warren Sponsler Chief Operations Officer (COO), The National Advanced Mobility Consortium
10:50	Breakouts Room 2210 A, B and C Focused roundtable conversations: multiple breakout rooms, moderated group discussion, each room assigned a topic area and primed with material to drive discussion, try to achieve equal parts education and idea generation, unpacking recent successes, current challenges, and future of autonomous vehicle simulation. Breakout Session #1 – Cybersecurity and Communications M&S Moderator: Dr. Daniel Carruth, Mississippi State University Breakout Session #2 – Simulation Fidelity Moderator: Dr. Chris Goodin, Mississippi State University Breakout Session #3 – Test Design for Autonomous Ground Vehicles Moderator: Buhrmann Gates, USACE ERDC
11:50	Break
12:00 PM	Wrap Up Pendleton Room
12:10 - 2:10 PM	Lunch Reception and Networking Pendleton Room

Technical Talks Matrix

The Technical Talks allow ARC projects to report on their research goals and outcomes. Each talk will consist of a 15-minute presentation followed by 5-minute for Q&A.

2024 Day 1 - June 5

Technical Session 1

	1A: Perception and Planning Session Chair: Jon Smereka, Parasmothy Jayakumar (GVSC) Rogel Ballroom	1B: Materials and Terramechanics Session Chair: Katie Sebeck (GVSC) Room 2210	1C: Digital Engineering and Multi-Agent System Session Chair: Matt Castanier, Steve Rapp (GVSC) Wolverine Room (3rd floor)
1:30 PM	Project 1.37, PI: Popa, Epureanu Perception in Complex Scenes Using Automatically Labeled Sonar-imaging Data in Synthetic Environments	Project 3.18, PI: Barrett Materials Design of Polycarbonates at the Atomistic Scale with Machine Learning	Project 5.19, PI: Vasudevan Adversarial Scene Generation for Virtual Validation and Testing of Off-Road Autonomous Vehicle Performance
1:50	Project 1.39, PI: Al Faruque Adaptive and Efficient Perception for Autonomous Ground Vehicles Operating in Highly Stochastic Environments under Sensing Uncertainties	Project 3.19, PI: Lu, Epureanu, Popa Intelligent Ultrasound to Adaptively Control Interfacial Properties and Reactions	Project 5.21, PI: Parsa Multi-Phase Vector Symbolic Architectures for Distributed and Collective Intelligence in Multi-Agent Autonomous Systems
2:10	Project 1.41, PI: Ersal, Epureanu Resilient Trajectory Planning for Extreme Mobility on Challenging Slopes	Project 3.20, PI: Martin, Harwood, Sugiyama Modeling of a Ground Vehicle Operating in Shallow Water	Project 5.22, PI: Vlahopoulos Unsupervised Testing and Verification for Software Systems of Ground Autonomous Vehicles
2:30	Project 1.A73, PI: Veerapaneni Quantum Computing Innovation for Off-Road Mobility	Project 3.21, PI: Filipov Design of Modular Origami Structures for Multifunctional Cloaking and Protection	Project 5.23, PI: Epureanu Automated Co-Design of Vehicles and their Teaming Operations for Optimal Off-Road Performance
2:50	Project 1.40, PI: Goodin Touch-based Sensing for Evaluating Vegetation in Complex Navigation Environments	Project 3.22, PI: Sandu, Yerro-Colom Tire–mud Interaction Modeled Using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics and Finite Element Analysis (SPH-FEA) Techniques and Experimental Validation	Project 5.A104, PI: Vantsevich Modular Closed-loop, Real-time, Physics-based Software Simulator for Unmanned Ground Vehicles in Unstructured Terrain Environments
3:10 - 3:30	Project 1.A100, PI: Haider Rapid and Adaptive Perception Autonomy for Context-Specific Classifications	Project 3.23, PI: KW Wang Adaptive Structures with Embedded Autonomy for Advancing Ground Vehicles	Project 1.A90, PI: Mourelatos, Hu Reliable Deep Learning for Data-Driven Mobility Prediction under Uncertainty for Off-Road Autonomous Ground Vehicles

2024 Day 2 - June 6

Technical Session 2

	2A: Human-Autonomy Interactions Session Chair: Victor Paul, Parasmothy Jayakumar (GVSC) Rogel Ballroom	2B: Materials and Structures Session Chair: Katie Sebeck (GVSC) Room 2210	2C: Energy and Lightweighting Session Chair: Jon Smereka, Vamshi Korivi (GVSC) Wolverine Room (3rd floor)
10:35 AM	Project 2.15, PI: Mihalcea In-the-wild Question Answering: Toward Natural Human-Autonomy Interaction	Project 3.24/3.A96, PI: Valdevit, Apelian Additively Manufactured All-metallic Metamaterial Solutions for Protection of Electronic Systems in Autonomous Vehicles	Project 1.A107, PI: Li Integrated Design and Efficient Safe Control for Terrain-Adaptive Ultra-lightweight Vehicles
10:55	Project 2.16, PI: Chai Language Communication and Collaboration with Autonomous Vehicles under Unexpected Situations	Project 3.A103, PI: Littlefield Evaluation of Under-body Blast Response to Loading from Alternative Terra-Medium Environments	Project 1.A108, PI: Lajnef Self-Powered Wireless Sensing Platform for Vehicle Attitude Control
11:15	Project 2.18, PI: Kim Investigating Required Transparency Information and Display Features through an Empirical Study using a Dual-tasks HAT Simulation	Project 3.A112, PI: Haq Advanced Manufacturing of composites using Robotic fiber placement, Novel Multi-material Joining, and Integrated Sensors	Project 4.37, PI: Naber Risk Averse Vehicle Energy, Thermal Signature Management and Control to Enable Silent Mobility/watch
11:35	Project 2.A101, PI: Stavrinos Effect of Autonomous Assistance on Crew Member Performance, Situational Awareness, and Interaction in a Closed Hatched Simulated Environment	Project 3.A111, PI: Papapolymerou Multi-Band Communication Antenna Systems for Ground Vehicles Enabled by Advanced RF Packaging Integration	Project 4.A105, PI: Fahlman De Novo Design of Energy Storage Materials Through a Synergistic Approach
11:55	Project 1.A81, PI: Gorodetsky, Veerapaneni Mathematical Approaches for Learning from Gaming Data	Project 3.A106, PI: Marquez Safe Water for All: Novel Adsorbent and Membrane Materials for Water and Wastewater Treatment	Project 4.A109, PI: Fang Develop Lightweight, Low-temperature, and Safe Batteries for Autonomous Electric Vehicles
12:15 - 12:35 PM	Project 1.A113, PI: Ghasemi, Vantsevich, Moradi Responsible AI-Based Control of Unmanned Ground Vehicles in Severe Dynamic Terrain Environments	-	Project 4.A110, PI: Foster Lightweight Electric Powertrain with High-speed Machines and Drives

Poster Session

Every ongoing ARC project contributes to the poster session. It is an excellent opportunity to interact with researchers and network.

1.37 Ultrasound perception in physical environments from synthetically trained neural networks

1.38 Recognizing and Reconstructing Distorted and Obscured Perceptual Sensor Data Resulting from Soiling of the Sensor

1.39 Adaptive and Efficient Perception for Autonomous Ground Vehicles Operating in Highly Stochastic Environments under Sensing Uncertainties

1.40 Touch-based Sensing for Evaluating Vegetation in Complex Navigation Environments (Finalist for Best Student Poster Competition - Marc Moore)

1.41 Resilient Trajectory Planning for Extreme Mobility on Challenging Slopes

1.42 Hybrid Learning-based Policy for High-Speed Autonomous Off-Road Navigation

1.A73 Warm-started quantum approximate optimization algorithm

1.A81 Tensor Network Approaches for Fast and Data Efficient Learning: Applications to Imitation Learning from Video Data

1.A90 Reliable Deep Learning for Data-Driven Mobility Prediction under Uncertainty for Off-Road Autonomous Ground Vehicles

1.A91 Physics-based Robust, Adaptive, and Scalable Control Algorithms for UGVs Operating at High-Speed in Adversarial Environments

1.A100 Rapid and Adaptive Perception Autonomy for Context-Specific Classifications

1.A107 Integrated Design and Efficient Safe Control for Terrain-Adaptive Ultra-lightweight Vehicles

1.A108 Self-Powered Wireless Sensing Platform for Vehicle Attitude Control

1.A113 Responsible AI-Based Control of Unmanned Ground Vehicles in Severe Dynamic Terrain Environments

2.15 Toward Natural Human-Autonomy Interaction: Encoding Compositional Generalizati

2.16 Language Communication and Collaboration with Autonomous Vehicles under Unexpected Situations

2.17 The Impact of Internal and External Communication on Situation Awareness and Human-Robot Team Performance

2.18 Investigating Required Transparency Information and Display Features through an Empirical Study using a Dual-tasks HAT Simulation

2.19 Hierarchical Game-Theoretic Learning for Mixed Human-Autonomous Vehicle Networks

2.20 A Shared Meta-Model Framework to Enable Multi-Directional Reliance for Effective Collaborative Human-Autonomy Teaming

2.21 Enhancing UGV Navigation with Adaptive Human Intervention

2.22 Trust-Calibrated Meta-Learning for Adaptive Multi-Robot Motion Planning under Temporal Logic Specifications in Human-Robot Collaborative Bounding Overwatch

2.A97/A98 Behavioral Cloning of Realistic Autonomy Models (Finalist for Best Student Poster Competition - Motaz AbuHijleh )

2.A97/A98 Supporting Data Analysis of Virtual Experimentation (Finalist for Best Student Poster Competition - Sean Dallas )

2.A97/A98 Exploring Interviewer Form and Interviewee Response Quality

2.A101 Communication, Reaction, & Effectiveness in Warfare (CREW)

2.A115 Latent-space Generative Learning for Gameplay Scenario Generation at Scale

3.18 Materials design of polycarbonates at the atomistic scale with machine learning

3.19 Intelligent ultrasound to adaptively control interfacial properties and reactions (Finalist for Best Student Poster Competition - Max Nyffenegger)

3.20 Modeling of a ground vehicle operating in shallow water

3.21 Design of Modular Origami Structures for Multifunctional Cloaking and Protection

3.22 Tire-Mud Interactions - Modeling and Experimental Validation

3.23 Adaptive Structures with Embedded Autonomy for Advancing Ground Vehicles

3.24 Additively manufactured all-metallic metamaterial solutions for protection of electronic systems in autonomous vehicles

3.25 Machine Learning-Augmented Multi-Fidelity Tire-Soil Interaction Model for Autonomous Off-Road Mobility Prediction

3.27 Tackling complementarity problem at scale via continuous-variable quantum computing

3.A102 Flow-Induced Fabric Dynamics and Thermal Behavior of a Fabric-Covered Vehicle

3.A103 Evaluation of Under-body Blast Response to Loading from Alternative Terra-Medium Environments

3.A106 Novel materials for water purification to ensure water availability in the combat zone

3.A111 Multi-Band Communication Antenna Systems for Ground Vehicles Enabled by Advanced RF Packaging Integration

3.A112 Advanced Manufacturing of composites using Robotic fiber placement, Novel Multi-material Joining, and Integrated Sensors

4.37 Risk Averse Vehicle Signature Management And Control To Enable Silent Mobility/Watch (Winner of Best Student Poster Competition - Yashodeep Lonari)

4.A105 De Novo Design of Energy Storage Materials Through a Synergistic Approach

4.A109 Develop lightweight, low-temperature, and safe batteries for autonomous electric vehicles

4.A110 Lightweight Electric Powertrain with High-speed Machines and Drives

5.19 Adversarial Scene Generation for Virtual Validation and Testing of Off-Road Autonomous Vehicle Performance

5.21 Brain Inspired Probabilistic Occupancy Grid Mapping with Hyperdimensional Computing

5.22 Unsupervised Testing and Verification for Software Systems of Ground Autonomous Vehicles

5.23 Automated Co-Design of Vehicles and their Teaming Operations for Optimal Off-Road Performance

5.A104 Modular Closed-loop, Real-time, Physics-based Software Simulator for Unmanned Ground Vehicles in Unstructured Terrain Environments

IE.01 Training Review with a Virtual Spectator Interface for Improving Human-Robot Team Performance (SASI)