US Army Awards Third-Year Funding for ArtIAMAS Cooperative Agreement

The US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has awarded the University of Maryland (UMD) third-year funding of up to $15.1 million under the ArtIAMAS (AI and Autonomy for Multi-Agent Systems) five-year cooperative agreement.

ArtIAMAS focuses on safe, effective, and resilient capabilities and technologies that work intelligently and cooperatively with each other and humans. The research spans engineering, robotics, computer science, operations research, modeling and simulation, and cybersecurity. 

This third-year funding is one of the largest single-year sponsored research awards for the Clark School of Engineering, bringing the ArtIAMAS funding total to $26.5 million to date. 

The agreement builds on a more than 25-year research partnership between UMD and ARL in AI, autonomy, and modeling and simulation. Funding may reach $68 million.

Professor Derek Paley (AE/ISR), the director of the Maryland Robotics Center, is the lead researcher for the extensive ArtIAMAS project, which began in May 2021. Co-PIs are Professor Jeffrey Herrmann (ME/ISR) and ISR-affiliated Distinguished University Professor Dinesh Manocha (CS/UMIACS/ECE).

“This large project supports more than 50 faculty and more than 120 students,” said Paley, “and notably, there are eight subcontracts planned for Year 3, including three HBCUs.”

ArtIAMAS university subcontracts exist for the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Bowie State University, and University of Nebraska-Lincoln; university subcontracts to be added in Year 3 include George Mason University, Howard University, and Morgan State University. Two new industry subcontracts are also expected: Booz Allen Hamilton and Stormfish Scientific Corporation. These subcontracts will be part of the ArtIAMAS-MIPS program.