Introduction: Essays On Artificial Intelligence And Magnifica Humanitas,
2026
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
Introduction: Essays On Artificial Intelligence And Magnifica Humanitas, Ron Pagnucco
The Journal of Social Encounters
No abstract provided.
Ai And The Environment: Solutions For Advancing Technology Safely,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Ai And The Environment: Solutions For Advancing Technology Safely, Kaitlynn Baker
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Since 2022, the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has boomed. AI went from a special and rare entity to a commonly used resource available to all through web sites, and phone apps. AI has benefitted everyday activities by making office, class, and personal tasks easier through grammar help, informational citations, and as someone to bounce ideas off of. Additionally, many companies have begun utilizing AI to improve customer service and experience, and train workers more efficiently, therefore, saving thousands of dollars. Despite the benefits humans reap from its use, AI has been harming our environment at growing rates. Data centers …
Assessing Attachment To Ai: Understanding The Theoretical Correlations And Consequences,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Assessing Attachment To Ai: Understanding The Theoretical Correlations And Consequences, Brianna Broderick
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Current research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) focuses on its capabilities and our understanding of it as an instrumental tool (i.e., utility completing tasks). However, as its ability to replicate natural language improves through both text and voice, an ever-growing number of users have turned to AI for emotional companionship. Concern grows as prior research on technology dependency suggests AI bonding may lead to less interaction with others and, in extreme circumstances, has already led to cases of suicide and divorce. Kasturiaratna & Hartanto (2025) developed the AI Attachment (AIA) scale, consisting of three factors, which include: emotional closeness (i.e., personal …
High-Level Trajectory Learning For Non-Prehensile Object Manipulation With Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
High-Level Trajectory Learning For Non-Prehensile Object Manipulation With Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning, Gulsum Tuba Cibuk Girgin
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Site exploration requires in-situ resource utilization when the physical properties of resources are unknown. Therefore, a generalizable object manipulation method is crucial for extraterrestrial environments. Existing studies develop reinforcement learning policies that enable interaction with objects, in which quadruped robots learn to reach commanded goals with one foot while balancing with the remaining legs. However, in these studies, goal-oriented task execution relies on high-level trajectories provided by human experts, which limits autonomous robotic operations. In this study, we propose a hierarchical DRL in which a high-level pedipulation policy outputs commands for a low-level reach policy, enabling autonomous, smooth and affordable …
Ai Race Between The Us And China,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Ai Race Between The Us And China, Kennedy Lyon-Lindersmith
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Technological leadership in AI and semiconductor manufacturing are both directly linked with military power and geopolitical influence. At the same time, the U.S. and China are currently defining the future of conflict in the cyber domain and are in strategic competition as China attempts to displace the U.S. as a global leader in AI. These factors contribute to an important national security threat that the U.S. is facing right now: An AI race between the U.S. and China, specifically regarding military cyber operations. This paper discusses some of the implications of a digital battlefield and analyzes international laws, international institutions, …
Energy-Aware Bimodal Contact Detection For Leg Odometry,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Energy-Aware Bimodal Contact Detection For Leg Odometry, Emre Girgin
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Autonomous exploration of extraterrestrial environments using legged robots requires robust GNSS-free 3D state estimation. Standard leg odometry relies on Zero-Velocity Updates (ZUPT), which assume a grounded foot remains completely stationary. This assumption consistently fails on deformable granular terrain due to unobservable slippage, rapidly degrading state estimation. To mitigate this critical failure mode, we propose a dual contact-detection framework designed to robustly gate an Error-State Extended Kalman Filter (ESEKF) tracking pose, velocity, and IMU biases. The architecture isolates physical load and kinematics by modeling contact detection as two independent parallel Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). The Load HMM processes Ground Reaction Forces, …
Motivational Outsourcing: Ai, Self-Determination, And The Changing Nature Of Adult Learning,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Motivational Outsourcing: Ai, Self-Determination, And The Changing Nature Of Adult Learning, Zoe Spanos
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded into adult learning and higher education, serving not only as a support tool for cognitive aid but also as a system that can shape how learners regulate their motivation and engagement. This presentation examines how the use of AI in adult learning contexts may support or undermine self-determined motivation, drawing from Self-Determination Theory (SDT). It is a conceptual paper that draws on existing literature and theoretical analysis, examining AI reliance from minimal use to full automation across SDT's three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Motivation is essential for learning, but the quality …
Lightweight Uav-To-Uav Detection And Tracking For Advanced Air Mobility Applications,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Lightweight Uav-To-Uav Detection And Tracking For Advanced Air Mobility Applications, Taylor Hostetter
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Lightweight UAV-to-UAV Detection and Tracking for Advanced Air Mobility Applications addresses the significant challenge of reliable UAV-to-UAV detection on resource-constrained platforms, particularly within Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) environments where dense, low-altitude airspace requires robust detect-and-avoid capabilities. This work presents the development and experimental evaluation of a lightweight detection and tracking framework for autonomous detect-and-avoid applications. The approach is designed to support real-time onboard operation in multi-vehicle environments characteristic of emerging AAM systems. The proposed framework integrates optical and LiDAR sensing with a low-complexity machine learning decision-support layer that reduces false detections without replacing the underlying control-oriented detection pipeline. This design …
Ai-Driven Predictive Analysis Of Airline Profitability Under Macroeconomic And Sustainable Aviation Fuels,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Ai-Driven Predictive Analysis Of Airline Profitability Under Macroeconomic And Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Shivika Singh
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
This study presents an AI-enhanced predictive model to assess airline profitability under the combined influence of macroeconomic trends and the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). By including economic indicators such as GDP growth, inflation rates, and fuel price volatility with airline operational data, including ticket prices and fuel costs, the model simulates profitability across multiple carriers. Scenario-based analyses, encompassing optimistic, moderate, and pessimistic projections, illustrate different financial sensitivities between low-cost and legacy airlines.
Designing Process-Focused Feedback For College Writers Using Genai,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Designing Process-Focused Feedback For College Writers Using Genai, Beata Blood, Maissane Aik, Zoey Zaldivar
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become more common in higher education, writing instructors face the challenge of guiding students toward effective and ethical use, particularly in asynchronous environments where immediate feedback is limited. This presentation reports on an exploratory study that addresses this challenge by shifting attention from AI’s outputs to students’ moment-by-moment writing processes. Grounded in applied linguistics approaches to writing research and process-tracing methods, the project employed case studies with both expert and novice users of GenAI. Expert participants, including academics and industry professionals, completed writing tasks while integrating AI into their workflows. Their sessions were recorded …
How Ai Influences The Design Process Of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles’ (Uuvs) 3d Sonar System,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
How Ai Influences The Design Process Of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles’ (Uuvs) 3d Sonar System, Eden Tsouklaris, Abriella Smith, Brianna Broderick, Carissa Aumack, Victoria Cornaro
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
With the exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI), user interface (UI) designers have explored using AI to shorten design time. This study assessed the effectiveness of UIs designed with AI programs versus manual methods for an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) control system. Participants were tasked with designing an interface that would allow submarine operators to monitor and coordinate three UUVs repairing a severed underwater communication cable at a depth of 2,000 meters. The scenario presented several operational challenges (zero visibility, sonar-only perception, data latency, and potential system degradation), requiring participants' designs to maintain spatial awareness and support remote repair tasks. …
High Tempo Air Operations,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
High Tempo Air Operations, Joseph Lipson, Brennan Flanagan, Trevor Sterbens, Brandon Godfrey, Jeremiah Sepich
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Aircraft carrier flight decks are one of the most dangerous work environments in the world, where dozens of aircraft must be moved, fueled, and armed within strict time limits. Currently, Flight Deck Handling Officers track aircraft positions using a physical board with wooden pucks that can be knocked out of place or become outdated during fast-moving operations. This study looks at whether using AI tools helps people design a better digital version of this tracking system. Participants with little design experience were randomly selected and then randomly assigned to one of two groups — one that could use AI tools …
Humans Vs. Ai: Comparing Approaches To Disaster Response Interface Design,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Humans Vs. Ai: Comparing Approaches To Disaster Response Interface Design, Kelly Nguyen, Olivia Hartmann, Kailey Hrbek, Madeline Nees, Gabrielle Roth, Emily Silliman
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Amphibious emergency support operations involve rapidly changing information, high stress, and significant cognitive demands, which can make decision-making and situation awareness more difficult for operators. When interfaces are poorly designed, they can contribute to issues such as alarm flooding, confusion from incomplete information, and delayed responses, all of which increase operational risk during time-critical disaster situations. This study explores whether using generative AI to assist with interface design will improve performance (output quality and effort) and usability compared to a manual sketch mock-up. Participants were asked to design a dashboard interface to support disaster relief operations following a Category 5 …
Evaluating The Impact Of Ai-Assisted Tools On Novice Interface Design For Combat Search And Rescue Operations,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Evaluating The Impact Of Ai-Assisted Tools On Novice Interface Design For Combat Search And Rescue Operations, Louis Pandolfo, Kaylee H. Akerlund, Cassidi Ellison, Sierra Martinez
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations are specialized military missions with the goal of rescuing personnel from hostile territory, often involving helicopters and elite teams tasked with locating and stabilizing survivors. It is imperative to a mission's success that any interface used by rescuers is efficient and usable, as they work under high risk, high stress, and time limited conditions. This study examined how access to artificial intelligence (AI) design tools influence novice interface design under a time constraint. Participants completed an interface design exercise based on a simulated U.S. Navy maritime disaster and CSAR mission. The overall aim of …
Navigating Enhanced Exploration Assistance (Nexa),
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Navigating Enhanced Exploration Assistance (Nexa), Azhari Abbas, Caleb Fakunle, Ryan Powell, Donovan Livingston
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
NEXA is an artificial intelligence software platform developed to enhance residential security and property monitoring through seamless integration with autonomous drone systems. This research application of advanced AI in surveillance aims to create a standalone solution capable of real-time threat detection and intelligent alert management. By processing visual and sensory data, NEXA facilitates autonomous drone operation with minimal human intervention. Secure communication channels ensure that instant alerts are delivered to property owners and, potentially, law enforcement, improving response times in security incidents, search-and-rescue operations, and perimeter surveillance. Additionally, NEXA is capable of interfacing with commercially available drone platforms and presents …
An Evaluation Of Machine Learning Models' Efficacy In Determining Uav Spoofing Attacks,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
An Evaluation Of Machine Learning Models' Efficacy In Determining Uav Spoofing Attacks, Nicolas Machado, Jaxon Selzer
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
An Evaluation of Machine Learning Models' Efficacy in Determining UAV Spoofing Attacks - The rapid integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) into urban airspace has introduced significant cybersecurity concerns, particularly due to vulnerabilities in Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B), which lacks authentication and encryption. This project addresses the problem of detecting spoofing and data manipulation attacks that can compromise UAV safety and mission reliability. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of machine learning–based anomaly detection, specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) networks, as protocol-agnostic solutions for identifying anomalous UAV behavior. To achieve this, …
Helio: Heliophysics Enhanced Learning For Intelligent Orbits,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Helio: Heliophysics Enhanced Learning For Intelligent Orbits, Kylie Nager, James Kirk
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
HELIO: Heliophysics Enhanced Learning for Intelligent Orbits Satellite constellations operating in near-Earth space are increasingly vulnerable to space weather disturbances, such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and high-speed solar wind streams, which degrade communications, destabilize attitude control, and accelerate orbital decay. These disturbances directly threaten mission continuity, constellation availability, and space asset survivability. Current protective approaches rely primarily on ground-based alerts and lack integration with broader space domain awareness, which results in programmed reactive protocols that are often initiated too late to prevent performance degradation and asset loss. The HELIO project addresses this gap by turning space-weather forecasts …
Interplanetary Trajectory Optimization With Reinforcement Learning,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Interplanetary Trajectory Optimization With Reinforcement Learning, Shiloh Cuffe
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
This project investigates the application of reinforcement learning (RL) to optimize low-thrust interplanetary trajectory design, focusing on the Earth-Venus transfer leg of the BepiColombo mission. Traditional trajectory optimization methods, such as patched conics and genetic algorithms, often require simplifying assumptions or complex optimization schemes. This work formulates the trajectory design problem as an optimal control problem (OCP) within a Markov Decision Process (MDP) framework, enabling an RL agent to learn efficient transfer strategies under realistic spacecraft constraints. The objective is to develop an autonomous guidance approach capable of replicating or improving upon established mission designs. The spacecraft is modeled as …
Feasibility Of High-Throughput Onboard Ai For Mars Rovers Under Solar Constraints,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Feasibility Of High-Throughput Onboard Ai For Mars Rovers Under Solar Constraints, Aashman Gupta
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
This project evaluates the feasibility of sustained onboard AI autonomy for a solar-powered Mars rover by directly linking solar energy availability to achievable compute performance. While Mars solar irradiance and edge computing performance have been studied independently, no unified framework currently couples surface power generation to autonomy throughput in an experimentally validated manner. The project will begin with a simulation of solar power generation for a 1 m² rover-mounted array across a Martian sol, accounting for seasonal variation, dust opacity, and array configuration (fixed versus sun-tracking). The resulting power profile will then be coupled to representative compute platforms running autonomy …
An Energy-Aware Meta-Learning Framework For Real-Time Lunar Rover Localization Via Adaptive Algorithm Selection,
2026
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
An Energy-Aware Meta-Learning Framework For Real-Time Lunar Rover Localization Via Adaptive Algorithm Selection, Jose Demedeiros, Garrett Seyler
Discovery Day - Daytona Beach
This work proposes an energy-aware meta-learning framework that selects the single most suitable localization algorithm for a lunar rover, per scene, using only monocular imagery and orbital maps. The goal is to achieve sub-meter accuracy while minimizing onboard compute and energy consumption. We assemble a suite of seven lunar-relevant algorithms spanning relative and absolute localization, including monocular ORB-SLAM3, LuVo homography-based visual odometry, Censible cross-view matching with orbital imagery, crater-based methods (LunarNav and ShadowNav), monocular horizon navigation with a DEM, and DROID-SLAM. Relative methods provide incremental motion updates, while absolute methods deliver global pose fixes; an Extended Kalman Filter fuses these …
