‘Voice-Controlled’ Drone Swarms? US Places $100M Bet on Concept

The Pentagon has begun shifting away from training troops to operate individual drones, instead preparing its force to command entire drone swarms through spoken instructions.

Backed by a $100-million prize challenge, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is searching for a company to develop “Orchestrator,” a voice- and text-based software designed to control fleets of aerial, ground, and maritime drones.

Under DIU requirements, drone swarms must interpret commands issued by voice or text, fuse data to coordinate across the entire fleet in real time, and operate within clearly defined constraints set by the human operator.

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