The Laser Avenger. Cool name, terrifying technology.
The title of this post might make you wonder “So what is the weapon of choice for robots?” I think the answer is obvious – lasers. Most depictions of robots in science fiction involve the copious use of lasers. Even Michael Jackson wanted his robot to have laser eyes. So far weapon based lasers have been limited to books and movies, but DARPA and the US military are making great strides in the development of weaponized laser systems.
The Air Force Research Laboratory have conducted tests of their M.A.T.R.I.X. system (Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments) that involved a truck mounted laser shooting down unmanned drones in mid-flight. With robotic military systems being used more and more in military campaigns, how much longer will it be until autonomous robots will be armed with lasers cannons?
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Om nom nom nom
The picture above is the E.A.T.R, or Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot. It doesn’t look particularly ominous, until you know how it fuels itself. This DARPA funded robot does not use batteries, gas or solar power but instead it uses organic materials. Onboard sensors find sources of biomass, a robotic arm grabs it and a small chainsaw cuts what it finds into small pieces. The fuel is then fed into a combustion chamber that burns the materials to power a steam engine. The ability to forage for its fuel will allow the E.A.T.R. to move far into areas that would normally be unaccesable to battery or gas powered robots. So are leaves and sticks really the only thing on the E.A.T.R’s menu, or should we start to worry about robots eating people and animals?
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I’m posting this from my mobile phone so this will be short but sweet. Robotics company Boston Dynamics won funding from DARPA to build a “hopper” robot that is able to leap over obstacles in order to perform surveillance. A demonstration video can be seen here.
::from BBC via Viigo::
