In order to keep its $20-billion rust problem under control, the U.S. Navy will use drones and artificial intelligence to help keep an eye on the situation, Defense One reports.
According to the outlet, the Navy spends $3 billion a year monitoring rust and whether it is causing corrosion on ships and aircraft.
Thanks to a new agreement the Navy inked with Google partner, Simple Technology Solutions, the understaffed Navy will have help overseeing its rust issue.
According to a statement from Google, Simple Technology Solutions will provide artificial intelligence software and drone photos to automate tasks and save money.
"Google Cloud artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies on inspection drone-captured images to detect, prioritize, and predict its maintenance needs," according to the statement.
Google's ability to point out abnormalities in images with artificial intelligence is already helping to detect cancer, find problems in wind turbines, and locate potholes, according to Defense One.
Now, it will help spot rust. It works by training an algorithm to locate an abnormality, like rust on a ship, after it sees a large number of images.
"The only difference here is just the training inputs to the model, '' Mike Daniels, the vice president for public sector at Google Cloud told Defense One.
Navy corrosion experts will help STS label and train the data using Google Cloud's AI Platform Data Labeling Service.
"This is one of those areas where it's critical that the U.S. Navy can automate key processes like ship and vessel inspection," Daniels said.
This is not the first time the Defense Department has engaged the help of Google. Google helped develop Project Maven, a controversial AI program that helps human analysts sort through video footage to find targets. Google has also won contracts to provide the Pentagon with certain cybersecurity services.
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