CYBERNET SYSTEMS CORPORATION — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N141-050

Description

Experienced shore-based technicians are not available to provide their expert technical assistance to a ship at sea, which is usually the most critical time when naval electronic systems issues occur. The current trend is that the experience, skill levels, and especially the numbers of on-site ship board technicians are decreasing, while the complexity of the radars, weapons, and integrated combat systems is increasing. Much of the accumulated knowledge and experience of shore-based radar and combat system operations and maintenance experts now resides in databases, detailed test plans, repair procedures, and other documents, that are unable to be leveraged by their ship based less experienced counterparts. To address this need, we propose to create an Interactive Instructor that essential works as an interface for interactive documentation. The Interactive Instructor takes as input the expert knowledge in the form that it resides, including and especially natural language. We then will enhance freely available chatterbot technology to generate dynamic, contemporaneous dialogue that allows the technician to present information and ask questions in a manner they would normally present to human shore-based experts, and receive interactive responses that will provide those expert solutions to the technician.