Robotics

Pain Rays and Robot Swarms: The Radical New War Games the DOD Plays

April 15, 2013

Source: Atlantic In the year 2025, a rogue state–long suspected of developing biological weapons–now seems intent on using them against U.S. allies and interests. Anticipating such an event, we have developed a secret “counter-virus” that could infect and destroy their stockpile of bioweapons. Should we use it? From a legal standpoint, it seems pretty straightforward that use [...]

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DARPA Building Robots With ‘Real’ Brains

April 9, 2013

Source: National Defense The next frontier for the robotics industry is to build machines that think like humans. Scientists have pursued that elusive goal for decades, and they believe they are now just inches away from the finish line. A Pentagon-funded team of researchers has constructed a tiny machine that would allow robots to act [...]

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DARPA looks to use small ships as drone bases

March 4, 2013

Source: IET The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (TERN) programme to combine the strengths of both land- and sea-based approaches to supporting airborne assets. TERN envisions using smaller ships as mobile launch and recovery sites for medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) fixed-wing unmanned aircraft (UAVs). Named after the family [...]

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Nano helicopter drone for UK troops in Afghanistan

February 3, 2013

Source: BBC The drones can fly around corners and obstacles to identify potential hidden dangers, the Ministry of Defence said.The Norwegian-designed Black Hornet Nano features a tiny camera and relays video and still images to a handheld control terminal. It measures about 10cm by 2.5cm (4in by 1in) and weighs 16g (0.6oz).The MoD, which also [...]

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US military plans drone base near Mali: Official

January 28, 2013

Source: Times of India The US military plans to set up a base for drones in northwest Africa to bolster surveillance of al-Qaida’s affiliate in the region as well as allied Islamist extremists, a US official told AFP on Monday. The base for the robotic, unmanned aircraft would likely be located in Niger, on the [...]

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Undersea pods to hold US war supplies

January 16, 2013

Editors Notes: Pentagon has plans to relocate equipment for future conflicts on land. Pentagon shift toward Asia Pacific – lots of water and little land. Related Article: Army’s Plans to Relocate Gear Offer Map to Future Conflicts Source: Defense Tech The Navy wants to build unmanned platforms that it can place in the depths of [...]

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Russia prepares to Robot warfare

January 4, 2013

Source: RBTH It is difficult to judge the validity of the opinion that the very idea of using robotics in the field is criminal and conjures up images of “terminators” — cold-blooded killing machines intent on wiping out mankind. These days, however, countries at the forefront of defense technology make active use of automated military [...]

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Army Black Hawk flies autonomously over California

December 6, 2012

Source: US Army Over the skies east of San Jose, a Black Hawk helicopter was seen flying low and slow Nov. 5. There were pilots aboard the aircraft, but all maneuvers during this flight were being conducted autonomously. The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s Aviation and Missile Center successfully demonstrated low-level autonomous behaviors [...]

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Terminator war scenario no longer a joke

November 25, 2012

Source: SMH THE use of drones to kill suspected terrorists is controversial, but so long as a human being decides whether to fire the missile, it is not a radical shift in how humanity wages war. Since the first archer fired the first arrow, warriors have been inventing ways to strike their enemies while removing [...]

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Robotic weapons to replace present generation of US drones

October 5, 2012

Source: AFP/Australian THE US military’s current fleet of drones will soon be overtaken by a new wave of robots that will be faster, stealthier and smarter – operating virtually without human intervention, experts say. The Pentagon is investing heavily in “autonomy” for robotic weapons, with researchers anticipating squadrons of drones in the air, land or [...]

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The Future of Drone Surveillance: Swarms of Cyborg Insect Drones

June 20, 2012

Source: Network World Forget the roachbots and the swarm of MIT humanoid robots dancing in sync, as well as “disposable” quarter-sized kilobots which are “cheap enough to swarm in the thousands,” and think instead of DARPA-like tiny insect cyborg drones that are “designed to go places that soldiers cannot” to work as spies or as [...]

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64 Drone Bases Located On American Soil

June 14, 2012

Source: SlashDot “We like to think of the drone war as something far away, fought in the deserts of Yemen or the mountains of Afghanistan. But we now know it’s closer than we thought, writes Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai at Danger Room. There are 64 drone bases on American soil. That includes 12 locations housing Predator and [...]

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Robots go to war

May 31, 2012

Dragonflies, fleas and dogs Military robots come in an astonishing range of shapes and sizes. DelFly, a dragonfly-shaped surveillance drone built at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, weighs less than a gold wedding ring, camera included. At the other end of the scale is America’s biggest and fastest drone, the $15m Avenger, [...]

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Nano Drones, Ethical Algorithms: Inside Israel’s Secret Plan for Its Future Air Force

May 11, 2012

Nano drones that an infantryman can pull out of his pocket; helicopters piloted by robots who extract wounded soldiers from the battlefield; micro satellites on demand; large spy balloons in the upper reaches of the stratosphere; virtual training with a helmet from your office; algorithms that resolve pilots’ ethical dilemmas (so they won’t have to [...]

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U.S. military embraces robots with greater autonomy

May 9, 2012

The unattended steering wheel on the 15-ton military truck jerked sharply back and forth as the vehicle’s huge tires bounced down a rain-scarred ravine through mounds of mine rubble on a rugged hillside near Pittsburgh. Oshkosh Corp engineer Noah Zych, perched in the driver’s seat, kept his hands in his lap and away from the [...]

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Pilotless autonomous fighter jet project begins test flights over Irish Sea

May 7, 2012

BAE Systems has taken a step closer to removing pilots from fighter jets by launching the first major test flights for a new generation of intelligent drone aircraft. The defence group is assessing software for unmanned aircraft that will operate with an unprecedented level of independence. Defence experts believe pilotless planes are the next progression [...]

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Now, drones to keep eye on trouble-makers in crowd

May 4, 2012

Source: Zee News/IANS Eyebot drones, the latest in surveillance technology, would promptly spot mischief makers during major sporting or social events, or act as high-resolution 3D street imaging systems, according to its developers. A typical scenario for special 3D sensors within these drones, developed by researchers at Fraunhofer Institute, Germany, to ensure smooth acrobatics and [...]

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Predicted: In 15 Years, 90% of News Stories Will Be Written by Algorithms

April 26, 2012

If you have not figured it out yet, the news is already scripted with lies and truth. Whether the news is produced by algorithms or journalists, it is a script intertwined with deception and rabbit holes. A guide to direct the reader in the wrong direction. -PR We’ve already begun to see a trickle of [...]

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What Are Israeli Drones Doing in Azerbaijan?

April 25, 2012

Source: Fars News Agency Azerbaijan has recently purchased military equipment from Israel for an amount of $1.6 billion. Details of this purchase were never mentioned, but now the veil of secrecy is being lifted. Also obtained were five Heron and five Searcher UAVs. The Israeli Heron TP is a 4.6 ton aircraft that can operate [...]

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The Rise of the Killer Drones: How America Goes to War in Secret

April 16, 2012

[...] The first use of modern drones came during the Vietnam War, when the Pentagon tested unmanned aerial vehicles for what the military called ISR: intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. “Vietnam was decisive to the development of drones as the perfect tools to perform dangerous missions without the risk of losing a pilot,” says aviation historian [...]

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DARPA’s Creepy Robotic Humanoid Becomes a Stair Master

April 15, 2012

Source: Geekosystem When we last saw a robotic humanoid from Boston Dynamics, it was PETMAN strutting it’s stuff on a moving walkway and doing pushups. Now, the bot’s developers and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) are showing off a robot with a new and terrifying trick: Walking up stairs. But that might just [...]

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Drones to Increase 45% in Pentagon 30-Year Aviation Plan

April 11, 2012

Source: Bloomberg The Pentagon plans to increase its fleet of armed and long-haul surveillance drones by at least 45 percent over the next 10 years. The U.S. military’s inventory of unmanned aerial vehicles, will grow to 645 aircraft in fiscal 2022 from about 445 in fiscal 2013, including versions of Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC)’s RQ-4 [...]

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Unmanned Surface Vehicle threatens to redefine naval warfare

April 10, 2012

Image: Zyvex Source: GizMag [......] Zyvex is positioning its ultra-modern boats for a new era of naval supremacy, in which huge fleets of colossal ships are not only prohibitively expensive but also undesirable. In a world in which (it claims) the main marine threat is posed by piracy, gun-runners and water-borne terrorism, fast and nimble [...]

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Pentagon competition to design specialized robots that can work in disaster zones

April 9, 2012

The Pentagon’s research and development agency is to announce a competition on Tuesday to design specialized robots that can work in disaster zones while operating common tools and vehicles. And while such tasks may well inspire humanoid designs, roboticists say they may also lead to the robotic equivalent of the Minotaur — a hybrid creature [...]

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US draws up plans for nuclear drones

April 2, 2012

American scientists have drawn up plans for a new generation of nuclear-powered drones capable of flying over remote regions of the world for months on end without refuelling. The blueprints for the new drones, which have been developed by Sandia National Laboratories – the US government’s principal nuclear research and development agency – and defence [...]

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Scientists Warn of Ethical Battle Concerning Military Mind Control

March 21, 2012

Source: US News A future of brain-controlled tanks, automated attack drones and mind-reading interrogation techniques may arrive sooner than later, but advances in neuroscience that will usher in a new era of combat come with tough ethical implications for both the military and scientists responsible for the technology, according to one of the country’s leading [...]

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Guiding robot planes with hand gestures

March 14, 2012

MIT researchers are developing a system that would allow aircraft-carrier crews to direct autonomous planes using ordinary hand gestures. Aircraft-carrier crew use a set of standard hand gestures to guide planes on the carrier deck. But as robot planes are increasingly used for routine air missions, researchers at MIT are working on a system that [...]

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IBM’s Watson Gets Wall Street Job After ‘Jeopardy’ Win

March 6, 2012

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)’s Watson computer, which beat champions of the quiz show “Jeopardy!” a year ago, will soon be advising Wall Street on risks, portfolios and clients. Citigroup Inc. (C), the third-largest U.S. lender, is Watson’s first financial services client, IBM said yesterday. It will help analyze customer needs and process financial, economic [...]

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Darpa’s Robotic Cheetah Sets Racing Record

March 5, 2012

Source: Wired

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