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Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyNews And Events

DARPA Opens Its Toolbox to Santa

New HO HO HO initiative offers DARPA research to St. Nick to help keep Service members’ and veterans’ morale high during the holiday season

outreach@darpa.mil
12/23/2014
DARPA has launched the High-speed Optimized Handling of Holiday Operations (HO HO HO) initiative to help Santa Claus and his elves more quickly and efficiently complete their holiday duties. HO HO HO offers St. Nicholas and his helpers access to research from numerous DARPA programs, including Memex (upper left), Open Manufacturing (upper right), Micro-Technology for Precision Navigation and Timing (lower left), Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) (lower right) and Z-man (center).

The holiday season is an important time for military Service members and veterans to enjoy time with their families. Ensuring that the right gifts arrive for the right people on time is key to maintaining morale and force effectiveness. To do its part, DARPA has launched the High-speed Optimized Handling of Holiday Operations (HO HO HO) initiative, which is designed to help Santa Claus and his elves more quickly and efficiently complete their holiday duties.

HO HO HO offers St. Nicholas and his helpers access to research from numerous DARPA programs, including:

  • XDATA big data analysis tools and Memex Web indexing and data visualization tools to help Santa determine who is naughty or nice. XDATA is working to create open-source tools to help sift valuable indicators from large datasets cost-effectively, while Memex is working to develop technology to facilitate domain-specific indexing and Web searches, which are helping to identify potential national security threats. DARPA is committed to the proposition that no stocking should be stuffed with coal for lack of an appropriately discriminating data-sorting technology.
  • Open Manufacturing’s MicroFactory technology demonstrator to help elves build toys. The MicroFactory uses independent, magnetically controlled micro robots smaller than a fingernail that work together for precision assembly of mechanical-electrical systems. Some of these bug-like robots carry structural components (e.g., structural rods or active electronic elements); others deposit liquids or adhesives; and others serve as inspectors, assessing in real time the accuracy and precision of fabrication. The goal of the MicroFactory is to enable precision assembly of low-cost, macro-scale parts of practically any size with embedded, active functionality. In other words, cool toys that work, batteries included.
  • A prototype penny-sized timing and inertial measurement unit (TIMU) from DARPA’s Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation and Timing (Micro-PNT) program to help Santa find his way in case Global Positioning System (GPS) signals become unavailable. The Micro-PNT program is working to develop breakthroughs in fabricating miniaturized, self-contained inertial navigation and precision guidance systems orders of magnitude smaller and less expensive than current systems, because the last thing Santa wants to hear on his busiest night of the year is that dreaded pronouncement: “Recalculating ....”
  • Initial research from the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program to help Santa’s sleigh stay on track while he attends to his core mission of delivering toys and good cheer. ALIAS envisions a tailorable, drop-in, removable kit that would allow existing aircraft to operate safely with reduced onboard crew. The program intends to leverage the considerable advances that have been made in aircraft automation systems over the past 50 years, including advances in remotely piloted aircraft automation, to help reduce pilot workload and augment mission performance—especially important for flights that have just one chance a year to succeed.
  • Z-man gecko-inspired climbing technology to help Santa more easily travel up and down chimneys. DARPA created the Z-Man program to develop biologically inspired climbing aids to enable warfighters carrying a full combat load to scale vertical walls constructed from typical building materials. The program seeks to overcome the limitations of traditional climbing equipment and deliver maximum safety and flexibility for operating in tight urban environments—even when the fireplace flue is a little tight.

“In pursuing our mission to invest in breakthrough technologies for national security, we’re always on the lookout for nontraditional partners who can help us transition our research to fulfill critical needs,” said a DARPA spokesman, discussing the HO HO HO program on background from DARPA’s northernmost workshop. “We wish all our partners in the technology innovation ecosystem happy holidays.”

# # #

To learn more about DARPA’s work, please visit www.darpa.mil.

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To follow Santa on his travels Christmas Eve, check with our colleagues at NORAD: www.NORADtrackssanta.org

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Programs

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Uncertainties in materials and component manufacturing processes are a primary cause of cost escalation and delay during the development, testing and early production of defense systems. In addition, fielded military platforms may have unanticipated performance problems, despite large investment and extensive testing of their key components and subassemblies. These uncertainties and performance problems are often the result of the random variations and non-uniform scaling of manufacturing processes. These challenges, in turn, lead to counterproductive resistance to adoption of new, innovative manufacturing technologies that could offer better results. More
| Complexity | Manufacturing | Materials | Microstructures |

(Archived)

U.S. warfighters operate in all manner of environments, including tight urban terrain. The safety and effectiveness of the warfighter demand maximum flexibility for maneuvering and responding to circumstances. To overcome obstacles and secure entrance and egress routes, warfighters frequently rely on ropes, ladders and related climbing tools. Such climbing tools cost valuable time to use, have limited application and add to the load warfighters are forced to carry during missions. The Z-Man programs aims to develop biologically inspired climbing aids to enable warfighters to scale vertical walls constructed from typical building materials, while carrying a full combat load, and without the use of ropes or ladders. More
| Access | Bio-complexity | Materials |

(Archived)

The Memex program seeks to develop the next generation of search technologies and revolutionize the discovery, organization and presentation of search results. More
| Cyber | Data | Visualization |

(Archived)

Current defense systems for processing information struggle to effectively scale to the volume and characteristics of changing data environments and the range of applications for data analysis. Overcoming these challenges requires fundamentally new approaches to data science, including distributed computation and interactive visualization. More
| Analytics | Data | Visualization |

(ALIAS)

Military aircraft have evolved to incorporate ever more automated capabilities, improving mission safety and success rates. Yet operators of even the most automated aircraft must still manage dauntingly complex interfaces and be prepared to respond effectively in emergencies and other unexpected situations that no amount of training can fully prepare one for. More
| Air | Autonomy | Cost | Unmanned |

(Micro-PNT) (Archived)

For decades, Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has been incorporated into vehicles and munitions to meet DoD requirements for precision guidance and navigation. GPS dependence creates a critical vulnerability for many DoD systems in situations where the GPS signal is degraded or unavailable. More
| Decentralization | Integration | PNT | Quantum | Sensors | SWAP |

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Selected DARPA Achievements

DARPA collaborated with industry on stealth technology.
DARPA’s Stealth Revolution
In the early days of DARPA’s work on stealth technology, Have Blue, a prototype of what would become the F-117A, first flew successfully in 1977. The success of the F-117A program marked the beginning of the stealth revolution, which has had enormous benefits for national security.
DARPA microelectronics gave rise to today's GPS devices.
Navigation in the Palm of Your Hand
Early GPS receivers were bulky, heavy devices. In 1983, DARPA set out to miniaturize them, leading to a much broader adoption of GPS capability.
First rough conceptual design of the ARPANET.
Paving the Way to the Modern Internet
ARPA research played a central role in launching the Information Revolution. The agency developed and furthered much of the conceptual basis for the ARPANET—prototypical communications network launched nearly half a century ago—and invented the digital protocols that gave birth to the Internet.
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