BBC wrote:The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear-style head to help carry injured soldiers away from the battlefield.
The Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot (BEAR) can scoop up even the heaviest of casualties and transport them over long distances over rough terrain.
New Scientist magazine reports that the "friendly appearance" of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease.
It is expected to be ready for testing within five years.
While it is important to get medical attention for injured soldiers as soon as possible, it is often difficult and dangerous for their comrades to reach them and carry them back.
The 6ft tall Bear can cross bumpy ground without toppling thanks to a combination of gyroscopes and computer controlled motors to maintain balance.
It is also narrow enough to squeeze through doorways, but can lift 135kg with its hydraulic arms in a single smooth movement, to avoid causing pain to wounded soldiers.
While the existing prototype slides its arms under its burden like a forklift, future versions will be fitted with manoeuvrable hands to gently scoop up casualties.
The Bear is controlled remotely and has cameras and microphones through which an operator sees and hears.
It can even tackle stairs while carrying a human-sized dummy.
Daniel Theobald, the president of Vecna Technologies, which is developing the robot for the US Army, said: "We saw a need for a robot that can essentially go where a human can. The robot will be an integral part of a military team."
Gary Gilbert, from the US Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Centre in Frederick, Maryland, said that the teddy bear appearance was deliberate.
"A really important thing when you're dealing with casualties is trying to maintain that human touch."
Vecna is working on other potential applications for the robot technology - including helping move heavy patients in hospital.
Seriously, I wonder how such robots will maneuver over rough terrain. It appears as if this particular model can lower its profile and drop down on treads, carrying the soldier just about the ground. I may be wrong on that. Still, this doesn't strike me as very effective.
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If the robot can get to the battlefield to extract wounded soldiers, then why not just give the robot a gun, call it a battledroid and not send the soldier to get wounded in the first place?
Steven Snyder wrote:If the robot can get to the battlefield to extract wounded soldiers, then why not just give the robot a gun, call it a battledroid and not send the soldier to get wounded in the first place?
Maybe autonomy. Being able to hunt down and effectively engage the enemy is a much harder software challenge than homing in on a beacon and retrieving a single object, though the later is still pretty damn hard (see: DARPA grand challenge) and I bet this thing will have a hell of a lot of glitches to get out in field testing. If secure comms links and sufficient operators are available, possibly, but why would you have a profile this high for a dedicated combat droid?
That said it could just be one of Cyberdyne's cover stories.
Starglider wrote:
Maybe autonomy. Being able to hunt down and effectively engage the enemy is a much harder software challenge than homing in on a beacon and retrieving a single object, though the later is still pretty damn hard (see: DARPA grand challenge) and I bet this thing will have a hell of a lot of glitches to get out in field testing. If secure comms links and sufficient operators are available, possibly, but why would you have a profile this high for a dedicated combat droid?
That said it could just be one of Cyberdyne's cover stories.
Typical software engineer, always overthinking it.
Put smiley face badges on good guys. Tell robot to pump several dozen rounds and a 'nade into anyone not wearing smiley face badge.
Done.
(Hey, it can't be any less damaging than what we're doing in Iraq anyway).
With feet of that sort, a good kick and it falls down and the soldier gets squashed by the robot.
As if a bullet isn't painful enough.
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What if the injured soldier in question has a phobia against teddy bears?
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
T-Ruxpin units are the ideal shocktrooper/interrogator.
Arm them with the Cobra Assault Gun for combat, and simply flip their brain cassette tape to "side B" to give captured combatants a true taste of bedtime horror as they read "Christie", "House of Leaves", and "Gravitys Rainbow" aloud.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know...tomorrow."
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