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Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
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OCR for page 20
4 lpUCATTON AND TRAINING
TEE DRGENT ARMY NEED
As science and technology grow in sophistication and as
accelerating technological change becomes essential to the
nation's defense, the Army will have correspondingly
greater needs for education. It will require not only
specialized education and training of personnel in the
short term, but also the career-long education that must
provide continuing career opportunities for growth.
Universities and colleges cannot meet these increased
needs unaided. In the future, government and industry
will need to assume more responsibility for maintaining
current scientific and technical e~pertise--through
research, development, education, and training. While
this statement is more broadly applicable, it is
particularly true of the Army's artificial intelligence
(AI) and robotics programs.
After hearing the details of these programs, the
committee concluded that the Army must significantly
improve the quality and quantity of its educational and
training programs. Personnel acquisition, retention, and
development are a critical army problem at present, and
they will continue to pose problems unless significant
changes occur. The Arty does not offer competitive
salaries for civilian or military personnel, it does
not in general project the Image of a high-technology
environment, and it does not offer attractive career
opportunities in robotics and AI. Further, the Army seems
too dependent on short-term commitments by ROTC graduates,
short courses, and contractor contacts for its expertise.
smart customer must be a smart doer, and the Army~s
internal skills and expertise must be increased.
20
OCR for page 21
21
In robotics and AI, the Army's efforts in education and
research lag behind those of the Nary and Air Force not
only in perception but also in fact. The long established
Nary AI Center and the Northeast AI Consortium sponsored
by the Air Force have no Army counterpart. Further, the
Naval Postgraduate School, coupled with the numbers of
service personnel sent for Master's and Doctoral degrees
by the Air Force and Navy convey to civilian and military
recruits the value placed on education.
UNIVERSITY CENT BS SPONSORED BY THE ARM!
The army established Centers for AI at the University
of Texas at Austin ant the University of Pennsylvania in
1984. Although, in the opinion of the committee, these
are not get recognized as major research centers, they are
operating satisfactorily. The productivity figures
provided indicate normal professorial output in terms of
publications and students. Greater effort is required,
however, to transform each into a national Center for AI.
Our major concern is that the long-term funding of
these Centers, by either the Army or the respective
universities, is far from assured. Because the time
required to earn 8 degree ranges from about 4 years for
the undergraduate degree to as much as 8 years for the
doctorate, funding cycles of such mayor Centers must be
guaranteed for the long term. Otherwise, the programs
should not be initiated, in fairness to the university,
its faculty, and the students. From the Axmy's perspec-
tive, long-term financing is required because there is
no return on short-term financing.
These centers need more publicity. Other centers,
similar to those of the army, have been and will continue
to be funded. These include, among others, the Engineer-
ing Research Centers (ERCs) sponsored by the National
Science Foundation (NSF) and the University Research
Initiatives sponsored by the Department of Defense. In
this competitive environment, the Army must do its part
not only to sponsor but actively to promote its Centers in
the hope of getting the most talented people.
OCR for page 22
22
ARM! INTERNAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS
An appropriate step taken by the Army is the establish-
ment of an AI capability at Vest Point. The recent
allocation of 6 to 8 research Slots in this discipline is
a mayor step forward. The committee suggests that these
slots be used to teach (and thereby train Army officers
in) AI as well as to do research.
In addition to this offering at Rest Point, the
committee believes that such an opport''nity should be made
available at the Army's Commend and General Staff College
at Ft. Leavenworth, which now offers advanced degrees.
Nid-career Army personnel in the mainstream of the Axmy's
business attend the Staff College, and great benefit would
be derived by starting an AI program there. Although West
Point excels in military history and leadership programs,
it is not chartered as a research institution. Conse-
quently, it could not be expected to be a leader in AI
research. Nevertheless, the coupling of West Point's
program with the offering at Ft. Leavenworth would be
a valuable addition to the Army's internal educational
thrust.
The committee believes that Army career attractiveness
and opportunities for civilians in AI and robotics are
insufficient to acquire and retain key personnel. The
Army must do more if it is to become a reservoir for
talented people doing Army-related research and develop-
ment in these fields. Educational programs must be
long-term and include career-long education, rather than
Just 1-day or 2-week course offerings. Regular programs
must be established for renewal of both military and
civilians; they should include sabbaticals for advanced
degrees or regular retraining. The committee noted that
the Army has institutionalized certain areas. For
example, every year a certain number of people are sent
to Syracuse to be trained in comptrollership, while others
go to Florida State for logistics management or to the
University of Illinois for civil engineering. Perhaps it
is time to institutionalize robotics and AI in the same
way.
The absence of AI efforts from the University Research
Initiative (ORI) program is a missed opportunity. The ORI
program offers a unique opportunity for the services to
concentrate large sums of long-term support in key techni-
cal areas of interest to them. The area of intelligent
control, awarded to a consortium of MIT, Brown University,
and Harvard, comes closest but is not mainstream AT. The
OCR for page 23
23
existence of the two University Centers in AI does not
constitute sufficient effort. If the FY 1986 URI program
is followed by a second solicitation, as is being
considered, the Army's need for further research in AI
makes it an ideal candidate for a ORI area.
Praiseworthy plans for a TRADOC-supervised, contractor-
operated AI Applications Center sponsored by tine Army
were presented at the committee's January 1986 meeting.
By the October 1986 meeting, however, plans for the Center
had been dropped. (Note that this Applications Center
differs from the AT Center at the Pentagon, about which
the committee was not briefed.)
The transience of such proposals points to the
fundamental issue--the incompatibility of the ArmY's
long-term planning and resources with educational time
constants. complicated by the high rate of technological
Change. The Army needs to recognize the Importance of
long-term support, identify key program areas, and stick
with them; the uncertain status of the AT Applications
Center suggests that the Army has not yet done this. As
originally proposed, the Center was a good idea and we
support it.
~ INTERNAL TRAINING PROGRAMS
The programs geared toward short-term training in AT
and robotics generally seemed to be stronger than the
Army's long-term educational activities. The Army
recognizes that the technology is evolving and that,
as a result, more intensive and frequent training of
its personnel is required. Maintenance and support of
equipment will become a mayor issue in the future, and
the Army will need to upgrade its training even further
The Airy also has advanced to the use of technology
Mach as CAI (computer-aided instruction) as teaching
.
tools and training aids and is to be complimented on its
progress. This is true not only of the Hawk Missile
Maintenance Tutor described in the previous chapter, but
also of the AI Center of Excellence, programs at Fort
Gordon, and an entry level course at Fort Lee.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
career opportunities
