The U.S. Navy's Robot Ambitions

At New Naval Lab, Scientists Make It Rain, Robots Put Out Fires -- Washington Times

Mark Twain famously said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

Now the Navy has found a way.

At its newest facility in Washington, naval scientists create sandstorms, torrential downpours and strong waves to produce the most extreme environments to test robots — some programmed with human characteristics.

The $17.7 million Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR), which opened March 16, is the first addition to the Naval Research Laboratory's campus in nearly a decade.

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