A Franco-Australian laboratory working on enhancing collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence
The new international laboratory Crossing - frenCh austRalian labOratory for humanS / autonomouS agents teaming (CNRS/IMT Atlantique/University of Adelaide/University of South Australia/Flinders University/Naval Group) is located in Adelaide (Australia) and aims to provide solutions for humans, artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems to work together efficiently and ethically. This lab will strengthen the scientific collaboration initiatives between France and Australia which are already rich.
Multidisciplinary collaboration projects are required to work effectively on research involving humans, AI and autonomous systems. This is the case of Crossing, the new International Research Laboratory created by the CNRS, three major Australian universities, IMT Atlantique and Naval Group, the European leader in naval defence. The new lab brings together specialists in AI, computer vision, virtual and augmented reality, signal and image processing, along with experts in human-machine interaction, cognitive and physiological psychology, neuroscience, design and embedded and autonomous systems. Antoine Petit, the Chairman and CEO of the CNRS said, "The establishment of this International Research Laboratory, the first of its kind in Australia, reflects the recent dynamism of the partnerships set up with that country. The CNRS now enjoys a privileged position among Australia's foreign scientific partners, and it intends to enhance its presence there through the development of new projects and networks.”
Crossing will develop four main research themes to support industries such as health, defence and "Industry 4.0" which aim:
- To improve models and our understanding of humans as individuals and groups;
- To improve the efficiency and implementation of learning algorithms within the environment and the group;
- To explore new interaction paradigms and improve understanding of how autonomous systems behave and make decisions;
- To propose ways of managing tasks and teams for hybrid teams.
Each partner will provide complementary expertise.
- The University of Adelaide, recognized worldwide in the field of AI, will provide Crossing scientists with access to the exceptional calculation resources at the Australian Institute of Machine Learning (AIML). The university will also make robotic platforms, testing spaces and advanced physiological measurement equipment available.
- Flinders University is recognized for its expertise in the field of autonomous marine vehicles and will provide Crossing with the state-of-the-art equipment at the Centre for Maritime Engineering, Control, and Imaging (CMECI).
- The University of South Australia will offer the unique resources of its internationally recognised centre for sleep and fatigue studies (Sleep, Chronobiology and Cognitive Neuroscience Research Labs). It will also provide priority access to an excellence laboratory dedicated to augmented reality and to its design resources, which scientists will use to make prototypes for testing human-machine interfaces.
- Naval Group will provide an industrial vision for the development of leading-edge fundamental research. The group will put to use its expertise in the fields of intelligence and embedded architectures, unmanned vehicles, industry of the future and human performance measurement in this laboratory.
Crossing will offer an unparalleled workplace for scientists at CNRS, IMT Atlantique, Naval Group and their academic partners who wish to make short- or long-term research stays in Adelaide.
Antoine Petit, the Chairman and CEO of the CNRS stressed that "The establishment of this International Research Laboratory, the first of its kind in Australia, reflects the recent dynamism of the partnerships set up with that country. The CNRS now enjoys a privileged position among Australia's foreign scientific partners, and it intends to enhance its presence there through the development of new projects and networks.”