Archive for the 'Military' Category

It seems NASA wanted to make a real-life transformer and they have somehow sort of managed to do just that. Meet the Superbot, a robot that is made out of 100 modules that are dropped separately from a plane then scramble together and rejoin to create a rover.

It can transform again, however, by sprouting legs for climbing a sand dune. Once on top of the sand dune, it can form a greenhouse for growing seeds. Sounds elaborate, but potentially pretty cool. Good going, NASA!

[FOXNews.com]

This video will tell you all about the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s computer generated vision of bird and insect-like Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) of the future. It includes such gems as a suicide MAV insect that can say, land on your neck and explode.

Of course they can also operate in swarms to survey large areas and double their killing fun and even deliver chemicals. These are all conceptual right now, but the future looks downright nasty. Who knows what will be buzzing around in our skies.

[Flightglobal]

The army has created a lot of different technologies such as drug sniffing ferrets. Now, instead of robots that work in the field with the soldiers, they have robots that work with the doctors in the back lines. Since this special robot does not need any humans to control it, it will easily replace them.

Just like in the sci-fi movies, it’s a table top robots that hovers over you and has 3 axis for it to move around. In order to find the bullet, it uses 3D ultrasound to identify it and then it takes a needle to retrieve the bullet. I’m sure that in its built-in artificial intelligence it will cleanse the wound too. This robot definitely has potential.

[Gizmowatch]

The end is near. DARPA’s Self-Explanation Learning Framework (SELF) program “seeks to construct systems that can participate in their own construction.” The first thing that comes to mind is…Is everyone at DARPA F’ing nuts?

You can easily imagine a robot helping to build itself. It’s almost as real as me pooping a little in my pants when I learned of this.

“The system might know the requirements for various tasks in its repertoire, and it may try to perform those tasks to verify functionality.”

Eh…I think I’ll give myself a laser. Maybe a hand that shoots missiles. I’ll also need something to rip the rectums from humans and scoop out their eyeballs. I’m glad my creator had the foresight to let me go all Build-A-Bear on myself.

[Technabob]

Military unmanned ground vehicles that can haul soldier equipment or scout perimeters have to be simple and intuitive to operate. That’s apparently why an XBox 360 interface was designed for the R-Gator, an unmanned vehicle prototype from John Deere and iRobot first unveiled in 2004. Software firm T8DESIGN built the Adobe Integrated Runtime interface for the R-Gator.

It would haul gear or supplies, but the R-Gator could also be used as a sentry since it can be equipped with a system called REDOWL. (Robot Enhanced Detection Outpost with Lasers). A sniper detection system that uses acoustic sensors and cameras to zero in on hostile gunfire.

The military is already using XBox and PlayStation-style controllers on robots like the PackBot. God help us all as the military arranges their own real life video game.

[Wired]

If you are a faithful reader of Botropolis, then you already know our days are numbered. This video illustrates just how numbered they are. It’s a four minute video of robots with guns. Some of it is CG, some is real footage, but all of it terrifying.

[Wired]

In modern warfare, unmanned vehicles are necessary for survival. With the technology we have today, it would only be blasphemy if we made our men fight on the front line. The Canadians aren’t the first to create a remote-controlled ground vehicle prototype, but it shows that the whole world is swiftly becoming modernized in technology, whether we know it or not. The Japanese only wished they had this technology before they sent out their kamikaze pilots.

[Gizmowatch]

It’s not enough that they create all kinds of robot snakes, making us fear both the real and the bot variety. Now they give them the power of going on suicide bombing missions and blowing themselves up.

It was developed by the Israeli army and is intended to be used for surveillance. It does what you would expect, slithering around with a camera. What you might not expect is that if it needs to, it can be outfitted with explosives and blow stuff up.

[Engadget]

PackBot wants to stop terrorists so badly that it is now recruiting innocent subjects for target practice. You couldn’t pay me enough to get tasered by a soul-thirsty bot. Packbot just casually stands up….and ZAP!

[RSN]

The U.S. military is backing research into robots that act like people. Military robots of today, like Foster-Miller Talon and iRobot’s Packbot, are boxey and walk on caterpillar tracks. But soon that may change. These robots don’t exactly fit neatly into a world that we have designed for ourselves.

For door handles, you need a hand, and to be tall enough to use it. So ideally you want a humanoid robot to navigate a human world. One of the American military’s leading humanoid robots is Petman. Its job will be to testing chemical protection clothing for the U.S. Army. Petman is being built by Boston Dynamics, famous for the BigDog robotic pack mule. Unlike earlier suit-testing robots, which needed external support, Petman will stand and walk on his own feet.

“Petman will balance itself and move freely; walking, crawling and doing a variety of suit-stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents,” the company promises. “Petman will also simulate human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating when necessary, all to provide realistic test conditions. ”

[Wired]