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Hello all,
I am new here — I hope it is the right place to share/discuss some ideas. One of them is the military-aligned multi-actor simulation environment, somewhat similar to OpenAI Gym. Imagine that we have a "virtual battlespace" — either some abstract environment, or a recreation of a military theater within some level of abstraction. Just like wargaming simulation — but for AI actors, programmed by the competitive side.
It can be a physical simulation, with gravity, air resistance, weather etc — where you can program UAV behavior through the corresponding APIs, and make them do anything as long as it corresponds to physical constraints (available fuel, power plant parameters, weapons/ECMs etc.) Or it can be more strategic-level simulation, again, with multiple AI agents fighting against each other, where superior programming wins. Or even a simulation of information operations in social networks, where adversaries attempt to subvert the other side's population and influence their policy (or even wartime decisions).
The common points of all these systems are:
- There is a shared virtual environment subject to some constraints and parametric limitations (physical, limited resources, capabilities, etc.)
- There are actors in this environment, exposing their API endpoints for control and telemetry (UAVs, networked robots, C4ISR subsystems etc.)
- There are two or more AIs (or even a separate AI for each actor), competing to win.
It will be a good platform to run experiments relevant to the future warfighting with multiple autonomous AI-controlled actors.
Is there a project like that, or is somebody interested in sponsoring such a project?
There are numerous past and present projects. In my opinion, there is always interest in funding such research projects, the sponsoring aspect of such project, at least initially, will be based on your ability to answer The Heilmeier Catechism questions, and your experiences that demonstrates your abilities to successfully accomplish your projects goals on time.
Look into Robotics Operating System for advanced simulations and for basic simulation Unreal or Unity game engines, furthermore and probably easiest way to start is to mod ARMA engine, list of ARMA bots. Additional, you can look into possibilities of extending already existing OpenAI GymFC framework, based on your research questions. Finally, there is currently competition that might be of interest to you; Air Combat Evolution.
Thanks! Yes, it covers at least the physics/environment simulation part, and looks polished. It is amazing that I could finally find a place where all these things and ideas could be discussed!