The British Military Introduces Their 'Porton Man' Robot To Test Clothes

Britain Builds Robot To Test Military Equipment, Suits For Armed Forces -- FOX News

A $1.8 million robotic mannequin that can run, kneel and lift his arms to sight a weapon like a soldier will help test the latest in military equipment, Britain’s government says.

The Ministry of Defence says its newest recruit, “Porton Man,” is made out of lightweight materials used to build Formula One racing cars, some of the fastest vehicles on Earth.

The robot, designed by the British company i-bodi Technology, is named after the home of the Ministry’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dtsl).

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Editor: The U.S. military's equivalent is "Pet Man". The video is below.

Robots And Other Tech To Evacuate Wounded Soldiers (Maybe)

Airmule

Wanted: Robots To Evacuate Wounded Soldiers -- Popular Mechanics

A Pentagon study looks at the future technology for evacuating wounded soldiers, including UAV rescuers, human hibernation, and more.

On the battlefield of the future, a wounded soldier could be scooped up by a robot, placed in a specially equipped drone, and then flown to the closest manned-medical center, where he or she is diagnosed with automated equipment that can deliver treatment without human intervention. Of course, that brings up the question: If robots can do all that, will there be human soldiers on the battlefield?

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My Comment: A summary of what is in the works.

Robots That Can Be Blown Up But Keep On Working

Bombs Away Click here to get a bigger view of this amazing image. Reuters/Saad Shalash

The Robots That Can Be Blown Up and Keep On Detecting IEDs -- Popular Science

The homemade bombs known as IEDs accounted for 60 percent of all U.S. military injuries in Iraq and have killed more than 21,000 Iraqi civilians. Last November, a month before the last U.S. troops departed, Iraq’s federal bomb squad paraded with bomb-disposal robots in Baghdad. QinetiQ North America has sold 16 of the $100,000 remote-controlled Talons to the Iraqi police.

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My Comment: Better robots than our dedicated soldiers.

The U.S. Army's Mechanical Mule Is Too Noisy

Mechanical Mule Makes Itself Sort Of Useful -- Strategy Page

April 1, 2012: The U.S. Army's latest design of, well, a mechanical mule for the infantry spent the last three months being tested in Afghanistan. Four of these vehicles were sent there to operate with the troops. The SMSS (Squad Mission Support System) is a six wheeled, 1.7 ton vehicle that can carry 544 kg (1,200 pounds) of cargo and will follow whoever is carrying its controller and can operate by itself for short distances.

The SMSS had passed most of its tests in the United States and was then used by some troops with combat experience. There it was discovered that the vehicle was too noisy for patrol work (which is what infantry spent most of their time doing out in the bush). The noise issue was noted earlier, the manufacturer reduced it somewhat and added the capability to run very quietly for a short while. But this was not enough because troops in the field noted that even with no engine noise, the sound of the vehicle moving and breaking branches as it moved was enough to alert any nearby enemy.

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My Comment: The number one problem with this tool in the battlefield is noise .... a problem that is not going ot be solved soon.

Jumping Robots To Afghanistan

The Army will soon test in Afghanistan the Sand Flea, a wheeled robot built by Boston Dynamics and Sandia National Labrotories that can leap over walls and through second-story windows. Boston Dynamics

Jumping Robot To Get Tested In Afghanistan -- Army Times

Army Col. Peter Newell, head of the Rapid Equipping Force, walked through the streets of Kandahar, Afghanistan, with ground commanders, who pointed to the 18-foot walls that line the many compounds both inside and outside the city.

On patrols, soldiers saddled with 100-pound loads either must scale the walls or kick down the doors to search the compounds, putting soldiers at risk from booby traps or utter exhaustion. Without access to an overhead unmanned air system, the units are also left vulnerable to an ambush.

Ground commanders told Newell they need another option.

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My Comment: While not a game changer, it will have a big impact on how this war (and others) will be conducted.

'Mini-Flail' Robot Could Be Used To Detect Mines, IEDs

Hat Tip: Stars and Stripes

The U.S. Army's Robot Mule Ready For Deployment

Photo: Lockheed Martin

Army Preps Robot Mule for Afghan Action -- The Danger Room

Meet Lockheed Martin’s Squad Mission Support System, a $500,000 robotic mule. If it can get the gear off the backs of soldiers during an ongoing trial run in New Mexico without overturning or driving off into the sunset, the Army wants to send it to Afghanistan.

No wonder: deployed soldiers have dozens of pounds of batteries, ammo, communications equipment and other kit they have to carry on their backs, on top of heavy armor. That’s why the military’s enamored with a variety of remotely controlled and even wearable machines to lighten the load. Some are deeply quirky, designed to resemble a headless dog.

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My Comment: At $500,000 per unit .... that is one expensive mule.

How Future Military Units Will Recon A Forward Position

GT's Henrick Christensen With One of the Team's Autonomous Mapping 'Bots Georgia Tech

Working as a Team, Autonomous Swarming 'Bots Quickly Explore and Map Structures -- Popular Science

A swarm of intelligent, autonomous robots from Georgia Tech may soon be leading the charge into dangerous and uncertain situations, providing valuable mapping intel to first responders, military, or police behind them. A team of researchers there have developed a team of small, rolling robots that can autonomously communicate with one another to quickly build a detailed floor plan map of an entire structure and beam it to nearby humans.

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My Comment: I can see recon units and FOBs having this tech as standard in the next 15-20 years (if not sooner).

How Robots Are Being Used To Foil IEDs

First Lieutenant Ungaro and Second Lieutenant Tilly standby as EOD preps a robot at an IED site in Iraq. (U.S. Army)

Rep. Hunter Aims To Foil IED Rings -- Washington Times

Taliban alters its deadly tactics.

Insurgents in Afghanistan have changed tactics in how they place deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs), prompting a war-veteran congressman to propose a relatively simple technique to find and detonate them.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Marine Corps reserve officer who saw combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, noted that Marines and soldiers are being maimed and killed by foot-deep pressure-activated mines.

The Taliban is creating belts of such IEDs around villages that U.S. troops approach by foot. Mr. Hunter said the IED ring is a relatively new implement in the 10-year-old war.

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My Comment: While these 'robots' are not cheap, they are far more cheaper than patching up wounded or mained soldiers.

Robots Coming To A Military Base Near You

The Guardium roving robot has been designed to patrol Israel's borders. Photograph: Sparwar

Robot Soldiers Patrol America's Radioactive Waste Dump -- The Guardian

Not exactly Terminator-terrifying – more like golf buggies armed with a bright light and loudspeaker

As fans of the Terminator films will know, the machines were due to rise up against their human masters on 29 August 1997. Being machines, of course, there were a few technical hitches, but now the moment has arrived. After many years of development and testing, America's National Nuclear Security Administration has finally announced that an autonomous robot soldier has begun patrolling its radioactive waste facility in Nevada.

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My Comment: This is just the first generation of robots in the field. One can only imagine what the next level of development will bring .... and the one after that .... and then the one after that .... etc.

Military Robots Converted For Civilian Use

(Photo by Synexxus, Inc.)

7 Military Robots, Now Modified for Your Living Room -- Popular Science

Dozens of robotics companies are customizing military robots with gear like interchangeable tools, 3D radar vision and voice controls. The resulting bots, tested and refined in the field, may soon find their way into homes, gardens and places of work near you. Here's how.

Give the world a new electronic device and, before you know it, modified products will pop up. Such is the way with gadgets, electronics and, yes, robots. Some manufacturers try to lock down such mods, either physically or through legal channels, but the robotmakers at iRobot have embraced crowd sourcing. Their Robot Developers Kit provides the hardware and software to help developers make their own upgrades and add-ons for the military PackBots that they produce. More than 80 companies are now involved, creating an avalanche of new concepts that could find their way into the domestic robot market. Here's a look.

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Autonomous Vehicle Tech Developed For DARPA Gets A Battle Test Courtesy Of USMC

VT's Ground Unmanned Support Surrogates (GUSS) The autonomous navigation technology in each GUSS was developed as part of Virginia Tech's 2006 and 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge vehicle. Virginia Tech

From Popular Science:

Technology developed by Virginia Tech for DARPA's Urban Challengein 2006 and 2007 is heading off to war, joining the U.S. Marines and troops from 13 other nations at in Hawaii for the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) war games next month. Aiding platoons of marines as they participate in the Naval Laboratory's experimentation that accompanes RIMPAC, VT's Ground Unmanned Support Surrogates (GUSS) will autonomously help grunts haul supplies, transport wounded, and carry out other platoon support tasks.

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The Rise Of The Joystick Army

The next generation common remotely operated weapons system weapons station.

From Popular Mechanics:

The defense industry is jockeying for a massive Army-wide increase in remote-control weapons on its vehicles.

The U.S. Army is planning on mounting joystick-controlled weapon stations on the bulk of its inventory of tactical vehicles, and the defense industry is readying itself for the lucrative contract that will make it happen. The Army’s Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Warren, Mich., in 2011 is expected to release a request for proposals for tens of thousands of vehicle-mounted weapons platforms called Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station, or CROWS.

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My Comment: The Air Force is getting all the publicity with their drones and UAVs, the Army is playing catch-up and this post tells us how.

Using Robots To Clear Mine Fields

New Army Bot Blasts Land Mines With a 150-Foot Bomb-on-a-String -- Popular Science

PackBot, iRobot’s longtime military robot, is getting some new cousins that just may be the most efficient cleaner bots yet. Nicknamed Warrior, the PackBot lookalike launches a rocket that tows a string of grenades to blow up land mines, barbed wire or other obstacles.

iRobot unveiled Warrior over Memorial Day weekend, and this impressive video (after the jump) might make you proud to be a robot-loving American.

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My Comment: A shape of things to come.

New Robots And Technologies That Can Be Put On The Battlefield

MuCar-3

Military Convoy Robot Could Be A Lifesaver -- L.A. Times

An event in Germany is a showcase for new devices.

On the outside, it looks like a normal SUV. But the prototype "autonomous robot car" — fitted with sensors and scanners, multifocal camera systems and powerful computers — might one day help avoid military fatalities from bombings and ambushes; or so its designers hope.

Researchers presented the so-called MuCar-3 at the European Land Robot Trial this week in Germany, where the world's innovators were pitching ideas to military evaluators from the United States, Europe and Japan.

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My Comment: This is very innovative stuff .... I can only imagine what technologies will be available 10 years from now.

Meet The Robotic Hurt Locker

The REAL Hurt Locker: Bomb Disposal Robot That You Can Carry In A Rucksack -- The Daily Mail

A high tech bomb disposal robot that fits into a back pack has been unveiled by the Ministry of Defence today.

The Dragon Runner device will help soldiers to find and deactivate dangerous explosives on the front line. Its capabilities were demonstrated by members of the Royal Logistics Corps today.

Measuring 9"x8"x3", the light-weight robot is reminiscent of the robots used in the Oscar-winning film The Hurt Locker. It weighs 14lbs - the same as seven bags of sugar- and can move at speeds of up to 5mph.

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My Comment: A more detailed look at these high tech bomb disposal robots was done by the Times last month. That story is here.

Band of Bots: Two Military Robots Team Up To Cover Land and Air

From Popular Mechanics:

In war, teamwork is everything, even if you're a robot. Just as human soldiers and airmen support each other, teams of robots will likely roam future battlefields, helping each other on missions.

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My Comment: These are the first tests among many. One can only imagine the marvels that are going to be developed and tested in the years to come.

Robots To Clear Baltic Seabed Of WWII Mines

Retro Sea Mine via Bactec

From Popular Science:

In a dangerous legacy of the world's deadliest conflict, 150,000 World War Two-era sea mines litter the Baltic Sea. The danger these bombs pose to a proposed gas pipeline has prompted Russia to hire the British firm Bactec International to clear the sea of unexploded ordnance. And for Bactec, that means it's time to bring out the robots.

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My Comment: 50,000 World War Two-era sea mines littering the Baltic Sea .... wow .... that is a staggering amount.

Can Battlefield Robots Take The Place Of Soldiers?

Can battlefield land-robots be made to obey the rules of war?

From The BBC:

Can war be fought by lots of well-behaved machines, making it "safer for humans"? That is the seductive vision, and hope, of those manufacturing and researching the future of military robotics.

With 8,000 robots already in use, they believe they can bring about a military revolution.

Most of the robots currently deployed on land deal with non-combat tasks such as bomb disposal - unlike lethal aerial drones.

But Bob Quinn, who works for the US subsidiary of the British robot manufacturer QinetiQ, says the future promises more armed robots on the battlefield, including driverless vehicles.

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My Comment: A good summary from the BBC on the growth and development of robot systems on the battlefield.

Robot Border Guards To Patrol Future Frontiers

Walls alone won't seal US borders (Image: KPA/Zuma/Rex Features)

From New Scientist:

A MIGRANT makes a furtive dash across an unwalled rural section of a national border, only to be confronted by a tracked robot that looks like a tiny combat tank - with a gimballed camera for an eye. As he passes the bug-eyed droid, it follows him and a border guard's voice booms from its loudspeaker. He has illegally entered the country, he is warned, and if he does not turn back he will be filmed and followed by the robot, or by an airborne drone, until guards apprehend him.

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My Comment: It will be expensive .... but it will probably secure the borders.