Voices from DARPA

Latest Episodes:

Racing on the Edge - Episode 87 May 22, 2025

Show notes

RACER enables off-road vehicles to travel autonomously and reliably at high speeds over cross-country terrain, enabling new capabilities for our warfighters.

Since the DARPA Grand Challenge kicked off more than 20 years ago, the Department of Defense has been very publicly invested in creating the capabilities necessary for ground vehicles to travel autonomously in areas without roads, signs, maps, or even GPS signals.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Stuart Young, who leads the Robotic Autonomy in Complex Environments with Resiliency (RACER) program, which is creating platform agnostic autonomy capable of operating in complex, mission-relevant, off-road environments that are significantly more unpredictable than on-road conditions.

We also speak with Dr. Trent Mills, a Colonel in the U.S. Army and special assistant to the DARPA director. Mills shares a warfighter perspective on what the Army has learned from RACER, and how autonomy is being integrated into the way the Army prepares and thinks about future engagements.

Check out videos from earlier experiments to better envision what testing looks like in the field:

In the interview, Young shares:

The importance of real-world experimentation and testing
How the RACER program has evolved over its time
How performers on RACER have spun out innovative companies to accelerate bringing new capabilities to the warfighter
The confluence of technologies that have made off-road autonomy viable
What edge case scenarios RACER is still exploring and trying to solve, and what success means for the program

BETR to BEST - Episode 86 Apr 08, 2025

Show notes

What do smart bandages, ocean-powered sensors, and quantum biology have in common? They’re all part of Dr. Leonard Tender’s work at DARPA. On the latest episode of Voices from DARPA, he discusses his fascinating research in the Biological Technologies Office and how these innovations are shaping the future of national security.

Bioelectronics for Tissue Regeneration (BETR)

BioElectronics to Sense and Treat (BEST)

ReSource

BioLogical Undersea Energy (BLUE)

More than Microchips - Episode 85 Jan 31, 2025

Show notes

Microelectronics are the foundation of technology today, but what about tomorrow? Ten years from now? Twenty?

Real breakthroughs don’t come from simply refining what already exists—they come from reimagining what’s possible. In this episode, Dr. Whitney Mason, Director of DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), takes us inside the research that is pushing microelectronics beyond conventional thinking. She explores the potential of organic circuits to revolutionize computing, not by replacing existing technology, but by opening entirely new frontiers in electronics design. From assessing the potential of quantum computing to novel material innovations that could redefine performance and efficiency, MTO is driving advancements that go far beyond conventional chipmaking.

Dr. Mason also shares her perspective on how DARPA’s risk-taking culture enables groundbreaking discoveries, and why the speed of innovation is critical to maintaining U.S. technological advantage. She discusses MTO’s focus on next-generation manufacturing approaches that integrate best-of-breed materials to achieve disruptive performance leaps. By moving beyond traditional microelectronics and embracing unconventional ideas, MTO is working to create the future of technology—one where microelectronics aren’t just smaller and faster, but smarter, more resilient, and capable of things we have yet to fully envision.

Show notes and links:

Dr. Whitney Mason

Microsystems Technology Office

Voices from DARPA Episode 42: The Infrared Visionary

Voices from DARPA Episode 72: The Quantum Mechanic

QBI: Quantum Benchmarking Initiative

AMME: Additive Manufacturing of MicrosystEms

NGMM: Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing

Episode 85 posting date: January 31, 2025

Episode 84: Hackable Code & the Formal Fix Nov 26, 2024

Show notes

U.S. national security depends on an aging IT infrastructure that supports a vast network of systems spanning the globe. Over the past three decades, traditional security practices—like virus scanning, patching software, and intrusion detection systems—have led to a landscape of vulnerable systems. The Department of Defense is no exception, where legacy IT systems and even the most advanced fighter jets and weapons platforms are susceptible to exploitable weaknesses.

But this doesn’t have to continue being our reality.

In this episode of Voices from DARPA, we explore the agency’s groundbreaking work on revolutionizing software development. At the forefront of this transformation is the use of formal methods—a powerful, mathematical approach that ensures robust security and guarantees the absence of vulnerabilities in software systems. Join experts from DARPA and its strategic partners as they explore how these cutting-edge tools are reshaping the security landscape and paving the way for a future where vulnerabilities are not just minimized but provably absent—across the U.S. military and beyond.

Show Notes

· Current DARPA programs leveraging formal methods:

o AI Quantified (AIQ)

o Assured Autonomy

o Assured Micropatching (AMP)

o Automated Rapid Certification of Software (ARCOS)

o Intrinsic Cognitive Security (ICS)

o Pipelined Reasoning of Verifiers Enabling Robust Systems (PROVERS)

o Provably Weird Network Deployment and Detection (PWND2)

o Safe Documents (SafeDocs)

o Verified Security and Performance Enhancement of Large Legacy Software (V-SPELLS)

· High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems (HACMS) overview, research paper, and Little Bird demo video

· National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Workshop on Secure Building Blocks for Trustworthy Systems (segment at 7:23:49)

· Voices from DARPA Episode 51: The Cybersecurity Sleuth, featuring former DARPA program manager, Dr. Sergey Bratus

· DARPA Forward: Engineering Secure Information Systems video presentation

Episode 83: When Should Machines Decide? Oct 24, 2024

Show notes

What characteristics make a person trustworthy? Under what circumstances would a person delegate life or death decisions to artificial intelligence (AI)? Does it matter that AI systems reflect trustworthy humans’ decision-making preferences, morals, and ethics? If so, what characteristics are most important?

These are some of the fundamental questions DARPA researchers are exploring for the In the Moment (ITM) program, which aims to support the development of algorithms that are trusted to independently make decisions in difficult domains, particularly in significant trauma events such as battlefield triage.

DARPA’s research has identified the need for fundamentally different approaches to advance AI technology to a place where we’re willing to trust it and not be foolish to do so. Continuing themes from our mini-series on ELSI – ethical, legal, and societal implications of new technologies and capabilities – we meet with DARPA’s ITM program manager, Dr. Patrick Shafto, and the ITM performers and ELSI advisors, who break down how they’re tackling the fundamental question of alignment in the context of human decision-makers and autonomous decision-making tools.

In case you missed them, check out our previous ELSI series episodes at the following links:

Episode 79: Integrating ELSI

Episode 78: Introducing ELSI

Our special thanks to the following ITM performers and advisors for their contributions to this episode (in order of their appearance):

· Alice Leung, RTX BBN

· Joseph Cohn, SoarTech

· Matthew Molineaux, Parallax Advanced Research

· Arslan Basharat, Kitware Inc.

· Jennifer McVay, CACI

· Dave Cotting, Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA)

· Sarah Daly, IDA

· Lauren Diaz, University of Maryland Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS)

· Ellie Tyler, ARLIS

Episode 82: Acquisition Awesomeness Sep 26, 2024

Show notes

Accomplishing DARPA’s mission of creating and preventing strategic surprise is as much a business challenge as it is a technology challenge.

In this episode, team members from DARPA’s Contracts Management Office – Office Director Effie Fragogiannis and Deputy Director Catherine Stevens, along with Senior Advisor Scott Ulrey – explore what it takes to innovate contracting processes and mechanisms to enable the development of breakthrough technologies at the speed of relevance.

From DARPA’s pioneering work with Other Transactions, to fast-pitch proposals, to the exploration of previously unrealized authorities, hear how the agency is breaking down the barriers of government contracting, providing companies a clearer path to the national security mission.

Links:

Acquisition Innovation

Collaborative Disruption at DoD – Kathleen Hicks – American Dynamism Summit

Acquisition Innovation: From Other Transactions to Fast-Pitch Proposals

Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Other Transactions Guide

DARPAConnect

Episode 81: DTC - Revolutionizing Triage Jul 29, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, Dr. Jean-Paul Chretien and Elissa Rupley from our Biological Technologies Office provide an exciting update from the recent DARPA Triage Challenge (DTC) workshop at the Guardian Centers in Perry, GA.

The DARPA Triage Challenge, or DTC, aims to drive breakthrough innovations in identification of “signatures” of injury that will help medical responders perform scalable, timely, and accurate triage. Of particular interest are mass casualty incidents, in both civilian and military settings, when medical resources are limited relative to the need.

We also hear from Alix Donnelly, from the U.S. Army's Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) and some of the participating DTC Team Members on their experience thus far in the competition.

There are still opportunities to get involved – listen to learn more!

Links:

DARPA Triage Challenge

Dr. Jean-Paul Chretien bio

DTC Workshop 1 highlight video

DTC YouTube Playlist

Episode 80: Decentralizing Chemistry Jun 28, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, Dr. Vishnu Sundaresan from our Defense Sciences Office highlights several technology programs designed to precisely control chemical processes to enable distributed, small-batch manufacturing of chemical products while retaining efficiencies of large-scale industrial production. Colloquially calling this portfolio “decentralized chemistry for everything,” the concept aims to shift the paradigm from a few centralized production facilities producing medicines in large batches and requiring a costly purification process, to direct manufacturing of pure pharmaceuticals via desktop printer-sized machines that would create — at the push of a button — doses of a variety of medicines whenever and wherever needed. Such a revolutionary capability — if successful — would circumvent brittle international chemical supply chains and would serve military members deployed in remote locations as well as benefit rural civilian communities.

Sundaresan describes programs aiming to achieve elements of this vision: Spin-COntrolled chemical Process Engineering (SCOPE), Recycling at the Point of Disposal (RPOD), and Establishing Qualification Processes for Agile Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (EQUIP-A-Pharma).

Listen to Sundaresan describe his journey to becoming a DARPA program manager, the fascinating world of controlling electron spins, and the ethical, legal, and societal challenges of preparing the market for such revolutionary tech.

Episode 79: Integrating ELSI May 15, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, we’ll be taking a deeper dive into ELSI – ethical, legal, and societal implications of new technologies and capabilities – and specific examples of how DARPA programs have incorporated those considerations into their structure.

We’re highlighting three examples of how DARPA integrated ELSI throughout the program lifecycle via the counsel of experts from the medical, scientific, legal, and ethics communities to assist program managers and performers in identifying and mitigating any potential issues.

The first program, out of our Biological Technologies Office, is Safe Genes, which supported force protection and military health and readiness by developing tools and methodologies to control, counter, and even reverse the effects of genome editing—including gene drives—in biological systems across scales.

The second program, Urban Reconnaissance through Supervised Autonomy (URSA) from our Tactical Technology Office (TTO) aimed to enable improved techniques for rapidly discriminating hostile intent and filtering out threats in complex urban environments.

And, finally, the current In the Moment program in our Information Innovation Office (I2O) seeks to identify key attributes underlying trusted human decision-making in dynamic settings and computationally representing those attributes, to generate a quantitative alignment framework for a trusted human decision-maker and an algorithm.

Show notes and links:

DARPA currently is seeking applicants for the 2025 ELSI Visiting Scholar. The deadline to apply is June 3, 2024.
Voices from DARPA Episode 78: Introducing ELSI : https://blubrry.com/voices_from_darpa/132452728/episode-78-introducing-elsi/
ELSI History: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK231976/ [quoted in Roberts, 1989].

Highlighted Programs:

In the Moment (ITM): https://www.darpa.mil/program/in-the-moment

Urban Reconnaissance through Supervised Autonomy (URSA): https://www.darpa.mil/program/urban-reconnaissance-through-supervised-autonomy

Safe Genes: https://www.darpa.mil/program/safe-genes

Safe Genes Publications:

Interdisciplinary development of a standardized introduction to gene drives for lay audiences

https://bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12874-020-01146-0

A typology of community and stakeholder engagement based on documented examples in the field of novel vector control

https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0007863#:~:text=The%20typology%20names%20three%20types,and%203)%20engagement%20to%20involve.

Codes

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/crispr.2020.0096

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd1908

Episode 78: Introducing ELSI Apr 30, 2024

Show notes

As a global leader in innovation, DARPA starts an average of 50 new programs each year. These programs span a variety of technical disciplines to develop breakthrough technologies for national security, all of which have the potential to raise ethical, legal, and societal implication – or, ELSI – considerations.

Taking time to consider ELSI’s role in a program can contribute to the responsible development of emerging technologies by guiding innovation, maximizing the potential application space, and facilitating dialogue with future end-users, and the public, to ensure diverse perspectives and implications are considered. It can improve research by fostering conversations that identify unknowns, anticipate consequences, and make design decisions to maximize benefits and opportunities and minimize risks and harms.

In this episode of Voices from DARPA, we’ll hear from DARPA Director, Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, to explain the agency's perspective on those implications, as well as Dr. Bart Russell, deputy director of the Defense Sciences Office, on what it would mean to incorporate ELSI across the agency more formally. Finally, Dr. Rebecca Crootof, DARPA’s inaugural ELSI Visiting Scholar, will discuss her journey to the agency and her approach to developing a process to ensure that ELSI can inform — and even improve —DARPA programs.

That sounds like a lot of responsibility, influence, and potential impact – for some, maybe, too good to be true?

Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications of Emerging Technologies at DARPA

DARPA currently is seeking applicants for the 2025 ELSI Visiting Scholar. The deadline to apply is June 3, 2024.

Origin of the term ELSI: Three decades of ethical, legal, and social implications research: Looking back to chart a path forward

The piece references a class from Dr. Oona A. Hathaway