RE: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,154876,00.html

I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.

I've used a PACKBOT for IED clearence and its an interesting bit of gear. now with SWORD & TALON it can be a force multiplier for situations where exposing a trooper would be distinctly lethal.

Joe Engelberger is rolling in his grave.......

WAIT!! he ain't dead yet!!

1979...Johson Controls developed the first vehicle installed control unit for voice command controlled vehicles...
they are just now wanting to re-invent the wheel???

where have they been for the past 30 years???

I wonder what would happen if a hacker was somehow successful in taking over all our battlefield bots and turning them around and using them on us.

Excuse me, but WTF does it matter if it becomes heavily corporate? Wasn't the idea to stimulate invention and investment? Leveraging smallish prizes and prestige into major corporate/private commitments? It's not a Faire For Bots; it's Goosing The System!

quote:

Originally posted by BrianFH:
it's Goosing The System!

there's a fine line between goosing and screwing.

Our corporate leaders, especially in the military industrial complex have learned to walk that line with aplomb....... screwing the public and lining their pockets while we think it's just a little goose. (it's actually lots of Vaseline in the form of lobbyists and pork)

The DARPA carrot should be part of mandated involvement tied to the other juicy contracts that are already in place. Corporate R&D is a drag on profits; it will never be properly funded without mandated directives.

like the oil industry supposedly investing "heavily" in developing alternative fuels. yeah, right.......

quote:

Originally posted by TheTinker:
1979...Johson Controls developed the first vehicle installed control unit for voice command controlled vehicles...
they are just now wanting to re-invent the wheel???

where have they been for the past 30 years???

We will subsidize the further development and refinement of robotic science through our defense spending, and then the rest of the world will reap the economic benefits.

In 1961, Joe Engelberger developed the first industrial Robot, the UniMate. He tried to sell it to American corporations, but they were reluctant to make the up front investment.

He tried to sell it to the Japanese, but their leaders explained to him that “our people are small and genetically optimal for working on the assembly line.” (really).

But leave your proposals, and we’ll consider them.

Kawasaki did eventually license his designs and Japan went on to lead the world in developing and applying robotics.

I worked on Unimates, and Cincy-Milicrons; part of our safety training was watching one throw a cinder block 25 feet.

Unimation was purchased by Westinghouse, and then sold off to foreigners like the rest of Westinghouse (and the majority of American industry). From Wikipedia:

quote:

Eventually the myopic vision of American industry was superseded by the financial resources and strong domestic market enjoyed by the Japanese manufacturers. Only a few non-Japanese companies managed to survive in this market, including Adept Technology, Stäubli-Unimation, the Swedish-Swiss company ABB (ASEA Brown-Boveri), the Austrian manufacturer igm Robotersysteme AG and the German company KUKA Robotics.

By the year 2020 the U-S army hopes to have at least one third of its vehicles capable of operating indendently of a human driver.
As a graduate of UL Lafayette I'm damn proud of the students and professors who made up this years Team Cajunbot.
the work these young men are doing today will one day save the lives of countless americans who would otherwise be forced to risk their skins manning convoys.
Go Cajuns!!

The private sector will produce a viable military robot long before the military could.

the air force has been useing unmanned aircraft in various roles for some time now it's time the army and marines caught up

2,000th TALON Military Robot Deployed

(Source: QinetiQ North America; issued May 6, 2008)

MCLEAN, Va. --- QinetiQ North America, a global developer of innovative technology solutions for national defense, today announced that the Foster-Miller subsidiary of its Technology Solutions Group has delivered the 2,000th TALON robot to the U.S. military. More TALON robots are deployed with the U.S. military than any other robot.

TALON robots are deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, primarily to assist military personnel with the extremely dangerous job of detecting and disabling roadside bombs -- the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by hostile forces to attack troops. The TALON robot is able to remotely disarm the IED without placing the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and combat engineers in harm's way.

Many robots have been damaged in their mission, some multiple times, but today they are rapidly repaired by military personnel at Joint Robot Repair facilities located throughout the world, a type of robot hospital. TALON robots, on average, can be repaired after blast damage and returned to service more than 10 times, before complete replacement is necessary -- a testament to TALON's ruggedness and sustainability.

TALON robots were first deployed in 2000, when EOD teams in Bosnia used the robots to safely remove and dispose of live grenades. In 2001, TALON robots were used at the World Trade Center, searching through the rubble for 45 days and nights to help find survivors and victims. The robots were also used to evaluate the structural integrity of the Hudson River's retaining walls.

According to Dr. William Ribich, President of the Technology Solutions Group, QinetiQ North America, this performance demonstrated TALON's ruggedness, ease of use and ability to withstand repeated decontaminations without failure and led to the deployment of TALON in record numbers for service in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From 2001 to 2007 the company delivered 1,000 TALON robots to the U.S. military. Today, just 13 months later, the number of deployed TALON robots has doubled to reach 2,000 -- far surpassing any other military-use robot.

"Our government and our company are dedicated to finding innovative solutions that better protect our warfighters," said Ribich. "The TALON robot has helped save thousands of EOD and combat engineers from injury or possible death in the performance of their primary mission of disarming IEDs."

Since its initial deployment in 2000, the TALON product line has expanded to include robots devoted to specific tasks, such as IED disarmament, reconnaissance, hazardous materials work, combat engineering support and SWAT/MP unit assistant. The TALON robot is modular, allowing for many types of mission-specific arm attachments and negating the need for multiple, specialized robots. It is also man-portable, easily transported and instantly ready for action. TALON moves as fast as its human counterpart on flat terrain, is highly mobile in rough and urban terrain, and has the longest battery life of all in-theatre ground robots.

The family of TALON robots has grown both smaller and larger in size with the respective robotic developments of Dragon Runner and MAARS this year. These new robots address the military's need for standoff protection from the enemy, over and above the successful use of TALON for counter-IED missions. According to Ribich, this expansion of the TALON line of robots is QinetiQ North America's response to the military's growing interest in using robots not only for combat support, but for future combat operations as well.

"We're developing and expanding our line of products to meet the military's future needs because we're dedicated to delivering the best robotic solutions in the industry," added Ribich. "With today's full logistics pipeline for robot maintenance, training and support, we're entering a new era of military robotics, and TALON robots stand ready to assist troops on any battlefield in the world."


QinetiQ North America provides world-class technology and responsive solutions to U.S. government customers. With more than 5,500 engineers, scientists and professionals working in partnership with customers, QNA develops innovative technology solutions to meet the challenges of national defense, homeland security and information access. QinetiQ North America is part of QinetiQ Group plc, one of the world's leading defense and security technology companies.

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