PETMAN

PETMAN, a two-legged, 180-pound machine nearly six feet tall. Boston Dynamics, which has created a slew of robots for the military over the years, is expected today to publicly unveil the first video of the nearly fully developed PETMAN, power-walking on a treadmill in the company’s labs.

PETMAN, an acronym for Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin, does not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who played the Terminator killing machine in the first of a series of movies. For one thing, PETMAN still lacks a head, and it can’t say “Hasta la vista, baby.’’

PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot developed by Boston Dynamics for testing special clothing used by the US Army. PETMAN balances itself as it walks, squats and does simple calisthenics. PETMAN simulates human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating inside the clothing to provide realistic test conditions. PETMAN development is lead by Boston Dynamics, working in partnership with Measurement Technologies Northwest, Oak Ridge National Lab and MRIGlobal. The work is being done for the US Army PD-CCAT-TI. For more information about PETMAN visit us at www.BostonDynamics.com.

Spherical Flying Machine

Incredible spherical flying machine developed by the Japanese Ministry of Defense:

"Because the exterior is round, this machine can land in all kinds of attitudes, and move along the ground. It can also keep in contact with a wall while flying. Because it's round, it can just roll along the ground, but to move it in the desired direction, we've brought the control surfaces, which are at the rear in an ordinary airplane, to the front.

In horizontal flight, the propeller provides the propulsive force, while the wings provide lift. For the machine to take off or land in that state, it faces upward. When it does so, the propeller provides buoyancy. At that time, too, the control surfaces provide attitude control. After landing, the machine moves along the ground using the control surfaces and propeller.

In our aircraft R&D, we have a plane that can stand up vertically after flying horizontally. But the problem with that plane is, take-off and landing are very difficult. As one idea to solve that problem, we thought of making the exterior round, or changing the method of attitude control. That's how we came up with this machine, to test the idea.

All we've done is build this from commercially available parts, and test whether it can fly in its round form. So its performance as such has absolutely no significance. But we think it can hover for eight minutes continuously, and its speed can go from zero, when it's hovering, to 60 km/h."

AlphaDog Proto

"The AlphaDog Proto is a lab prototype for the Legged Squad Support System, a robot being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA and the US Marine Corps. When fully developed the system will carry 400 lbs of payload on 20-mile missions in rough terrain. Using GPS navigation and computer vision, AlphaDog can traverse just about any terrain. The first version of the complete robot will be completed in 2012. This video shows early results from the control development process. In this video the robot is powered remotely. AlphaDog is designed to be over 10x quieter than BigDog. "

via Dvice

Artificial bird and flock of seagulls

Demo flight of an artificial bird by Festo at TEDGlobal 2011.

The Pentagon Has a Classified List of Cyber Weapons Approved for Cyber Warfare

The Pentagon has developed a list of cyber-weapons and -tools, including viruses that can sabotage an adversary’s critical networks, to streamline how the United States engages in computer warfare.

Placing cyber weapons in the arsenal right next to cruise missiles, airstrikes, and M-16s is “perhaps the most significant operational development in military cyber-doctrine in years.” Indeed, it brings clarity to an otherwise murky area of international military relations where the rules of engagement are somewhat opaque. And, perhaps most notably, it establishes the chain of command.
For instance, it specifies when a cyber attack requires presidential authorization and when it does not. For instance, if the military wishes to plant a virus in a foreign nation’s networks that can be activated later, it needs a presidential nod. But a variety of other activities, including spying on other nations’ cyber capabilities or leaving “beacons” behind to mark vulnerable sites in foreign systems, need no approval from the Commander in Chief.

via The Washington Post

Laser gun fired from US navy ship

The US Navy has fired a laser gun from one of its ships for the first time.

Researchers used the high-energy laser (HEL) to disable a boat by setting fire to its engines off the coast of California.

Similar systems had previously been tested on land, however moist sea air presented an extra challenge as it reduces a beam's power.

The navy said that ship-borne lasers could eventually be used to protect vessels from small attack boats.

via BBC

The Navy Wants a Swarm of Semi-Autonomous Breeding Robots With Built-In 3-D Printers

The Navy wants robots that can make, among other things, more robots. And it wants to give the robots the capability to do it quickly wherever they are operating, via rapid prototyping machines that can churn out parts assembly line style in a variety of materials, including “multi-functional materials, programmable materials, metamorphic materials, extreme materials, heterogeneous materials, synthetic materials, etc.”



Each micro-robot would perform a specific task, often a single rudimentary task, repeatedly. Collectively, these tasks would be choreographed in purposeful activities for manufacturing. A micro-robot swarm should be able to perform material synthesis and component assembly, concurrently. The micro-robots could be designed to perform basic operations such as pick and place, dispense liquids, print inks, remove material, join components, etc. These micro-robots should be able to move cooperatively within a workspace to achieve highly efficient synthesis and assembly.

via DOD

and DangerRoom

US firm unveils hummingbird robot

Brain-Controlled Robotic Arm Could Be Available in Just Four Years

The lifelike limb, controlled by a chip planted on the brain, is being tested as part of a program designed to speed development of medical devices.

On Tuesday the Food and Drug Administration said it would fast-track the DARPA device, pushing it through the approval process with priority assistance in order to get it to amputees — many of which are returning from combat zones—as soon as four years from now.

via LA Times

Pentagon resurrects 'Blackswift' hypersonic bomber program

In 2007, DARPA committed to funding the development of a prototype unmanned aircraft called "Blackswift" that would be able to take off from a runway unassisted and be anywhere in the world within a few hours. The program was canceled just a year later, but now, it's back.



via DangerRoom

Scenes From a Drone Trade Show

When most people think "trade show," what comes to mind are harsh fluorescent lights and hollow convention halls, all filled with corporate drones (of the human variety) idly wandering through booths hyping the latest in office paper technology, stopping only to hover over bowls of stale candy and cheap swag.

The annual Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) event in Denver, Co. is also a trade show, down to the expansive halls and harsh lights. But instead of the latest in corporate nothingness, its booths are filled with something far more interesting: the state-of-the-art in flying robots.

via PopSci

Unmanned Helicopter With a Grabbing Hand

Researchers at Yale's Grab Lab aren't about to let the nuances of rotary-wing flight restrict what unmanned aerial vehicles can do. A team there has developed a hand-like modular grasping and manipulation platform that can be fitted to the bellies of UAVs to provide them with extra functionality without overly taxing their flight capabilities.

Yale

Control a Swarm of Robots With Your Fingertips

A sharp-looking tabletop touchscreen can be used to command robots and combine data from various sources, potentially improving military planning, disaster response and search-and-rescue operations.

Mark Micire, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, proposes using Surface, Microsoft's interactive tabletop, to unite various types of data, robots and other smart technologies around a common goal. It seems so obvious and so simple, you have to wonder why this type of technology is not already widespread.

RoboticsLab

Meet Taranis, The Semi-Autonomous Stealth Unmanned Aircraft

BAE Systems today unveiled Taranis, an advanced stealth unmanned aircraft that can carry its deadly payload deep into enemy territory without a pilot. It can also think for itself. It's part awesome, part Cylon Raider

via Jalopnik

Unmanned golf carts: The latest in military battle vehicles

By 2015, the government wants 30 percent of all military vehicles to be unmanned. With advances in AI and lightweight, long-lasting computer systems, this goal isn't as sci-fi as it sounds. We've covered the coming of these automated battle machines before, and now there's a new one being tested by the U.S. Marines.

via CNET Crave

Secret liquid armor instantly hardens to stop bullets

A liquid armour has been shown to stop bullets in tests carried out by UK scientists at BAE systems in Bristol.
The researchers have combined this "shear-thickening" liquid with Kevlar to create a new bullet-proof material.
The company is keeping the chemical formula of the liquid a secret, but it works by absorbing the force of the bullet strike and responding to it by becoming much thicker and more sticky
The BAE scientists describe it as "bullet-proof custard".

via BBC

Nanoparticle bandages could detect and treat infection

A "self-medicating" bandage could become a mainstay of burns units. Laced with nanoparticles, it detects harmful bacteria in a wound and responds by secreting antibiotics.

via New Scientist

Boeing's robot helicopter almost ready to resupply tomorrow's military

Boeing's A160T "Hummingbird" robotic helicopter looks like it's almost ready for prime time, as the company tested its military vehicle in a series of mock resupply tests. The 'bird performed a variety of maneuvers over seven test flights, including hovering at 12,000 feet with a load of 1,250 pounds carried by a sling.

via cnet

Boston Dynamics create a bipedal 'walker'

The latest innovation to come out of the Boston Dynamics labs is the Petman--a two-legged, upright robot that simulates the walking motion of human beings. And like its quadruped cousin the BigDog, this thing is equally creepy/hilarious (check out the shoes).

Used (at the moment) to test chemical warfare clothing for the US Army, the Petman is able to move at 3.2 mph, recreating the natural heel-toe stride that we employ in our walking motion.
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