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Robots for Air Force Protection

Roland Piquepaille writes "During a demonstration held in San Antonio on August 6, twelve robots intended to protect bases and people were shown to Air Force security directors and to 230 other security professionals. In "Robots display force-protection prowess," Air Force Link tells us the story. "Demonstrations included one robot that crawled up walls and across ceilings, another that clambered over rocks with six rotating legs and a third that wriggled like a snake through a pipe." This summary contains more details, including photos of the "Wall Crawler" climbing a wall and of Hexapod, a robot with six rotating legs walking over a pile of rocks."

10 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. real folks for planet/population rescue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    opposing unprecedented greed/fear based corepirate nazi evile.

    it's always open, & there's never any infosuck/subscription fees. soon there'll be quiet in the air (as opposed to the thunderous noise of the georgewellian fuddite life0cide machines).

    that's right. the absolutely free methods to improve yOUR condition include use of those time tested elements, oxygen, & water.

    hard to believe that something so simple/cost effective, could improve yOUR ability to participate in the planet/population rescue program, as well as improving your owned lot, goes unrecognized. you can add/subtract various other stuff for cause&effect, but if you overlook the basics, you/all of us, will .continue to come up on the short end of the FUDgeCycle(tm)

    once you get more oxygen on your brain, you'll begin to see the lights coming up. as most of you already know, we're all mostly water, so more of that can't hurt/helps a lot. why aren't these methods to superior health/ability widely known/promoted? can you say monIE? deception? .controll? corepirate nazis? pharmaceuticals?

    you're still hiding behind the 8bawl robbIE?

    the lights are coming up now.

    you can pretend all you want. our advise is to be as far away from the walking dead contingent as possible, when the big flash occurs. you wouldn't want to get any of that evile on you.

    as to the free unlimited energy plan, as the lights come up, more&more folks will stop being misled into sucking up more&more of the infant killing barrolls of crudeness, & learn that it's more than ok to use newclear power generated by natural (hydro, solar, etc...) methods. of course more information about not wasting anything/behaving less frivolously is bound to show up, here&there.

    cyphering how many babies it costs for a barroll of crudeness, we've decided to cut back, a lot, on wasteful things like giving monIE to felons, to help them destroy the planet/population.

    no matter. the #1 task is planet/population rescue. the lights are coming up. we're in crisis mode. you can help.

    the unlimited power (such as has never been seen before) is freely available to all, with the possible exception of the aforementioned walking dead.

    consult with/trust in yOUR creator. more breathing. vote with yOUR wallet. seek others of non-aggressive intentions/behaviours. that's the spirit, moving you.

    pay no heed/monIE to the greed/fear based walking dead.

    each harmed innocent carries with it a bad toll. it will be repaid by you/us. the Godless felons will not be available to make reparations.

    pay attention. that's definitely affordable, plus you might develop skills which could prevent you from being misled any further by phonIE ?pr? ?firm? generated misinformation.

    good work so far. there's still much to be done. see you there. tell 'em robbIE.

    the rest of the wwworld is laughing/crying at/for US in sympathy/disgust, as we fall/jump into the daze of the georgewellian corepirate nazi life0cide, whilst criticizing their ip gangsters, which are also members of the walking dead.

  2. Gay Robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'd like to have sex with gay robots. Is anybody working on this project?

  3. CHRISTIAN FOX IS ON TEH SPOKE !!!~ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic


    # Important Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic.
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  4. Well known asshole Edsger Dijkstra dead at 72 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Edsger Dijkstra a pompous overbearing arrogant prick of a man has died. The cause of death was an AIDS like virus received from his gay partner. This overrated jackass will not be missed by the IT community. He was a worthless piece of shit who plagerized most of his works. His refusal to bathe or use deodorant was well known This pale smelly socially inept loser died in his homosexual partner's arms covered with festering sores. His last words were "recursion is a myth" Good riddance to that worthless piece of shit Dijkstra!

  5. wtf by jaxle · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    that fan website pisses me off

  6. Re:Bah, '80s technology! by The+Other+White+Boy · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    i can't freakin believe this god modded as Interesting. I wish I could mod moderations as Funny.

  7. Re:Bah, '80s technology! by The+Other+White+Boy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    err, got modded. keyboard moved under my hands.

  8. money for robots but not airliners? by segment · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Senator Chuck Schumer blasted the Bush administration for not taking the steps to equip passenger planes with weapons deterrent systems. Money to equip planes with devices that could stop someone from using a missile against it, nah let's play with robots. This being said just when the FBI busts a European businessman for trying to purchase a SAM (surface to air missile) that he allegedly was going to resell to terrorists.

    According to Schumer "The threat facing commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles here in the United States is no longer theoretical"

    So again I state... Waste money on pork-barrel shit like this, or but it to proper use?

    Full article on Schumer & view on this matter

  9. Terrorist Missiles vs. Airliners by Mad+Man · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    was Re:money for robots but not airliners?

    Senator Chuck Schumer blasted the Bush administration for not taking the steps to equip passenger planes with weapons deterrent systems. Money to equip planes with devices that could stop someone from using a missile against it, nah let's play with robots. This being said just when the FBI busts a European businessman for trying to purchase a SAM (surface to air missile) that he allegedly was going to resell to terrorists.

    According to Schumer "The threat facing commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles here in the United States is no longer theoretical"

    from http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/20030813a .asp

    Terrorist Missiles Versus Airliners
    by James Dunnigan
    August 13, 2003

    An Indian arms dealer was caught trying to illegally import a Russian SA-18 Igla shoulder fired anti-aircraft missile to an FBI agent posing as an Islamic terrorist. Terrorists trying to take down airliners with portable missiles has been a threat for a long time. Actually, over the last thirty years, it's been a reality. Some 29 commercial aircraft have been shot down by such missiles. However, the downed aircraft have been small, and most of these tragedies have taken place in Africa. The wars in Africa are the worst on the planet, so violent that most journalists avoid them. For three decades, this has kept the use of portable missiles against civilian aircraft off the front page.

    Larger airliners, like the Airbus's, and 757s, 767s and 747s, have not been brought down because these missiles were not designed to take on aircraft with such large and powerful engines. While these missiles were originally intended for use against jet fighters operating over the battlefield, the reality turned out to be different. The most likely targets encountered were helicopters, or propeller driven transports. These aircraft proved to be just the sort of thing twenty pound missiles with 2-3 pound warheads could destroy. Against jet fighters with powerful engines, the missiles caused some damage to the tailpipe, but usually failed to bring down the jet. This was first noted during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, where the Egyptians fired hundreds of SA-7s at Israeli A-4 light bombers. Most of the A-4s, with their 11,187 pounds of thrust engines, survived the encounter. Larger jets, like the F-4 and it's 17,000 pound thrust engines, were even more difficult to bring down. Smaller commercial jets, like the 737 or DC-9 (each using two 14,000 pounds of thrust engines) have proved vulnerable. But a 757 has much larger engines with 43,000 pounds of thrust, and the 747 is 63,000. Moreover, the rear end of jet engines are built to take a lot of punishment from all that hot exhaust spewing out. Put a bird into the front of the engine and you can do some real damage. But these missiles home in on heat, and all of that is at the rear end of the engine.

    If terrorists target helicopters and smaller turboprop commuter airliners, or business jets, they are likely to take down aircraft better than half the time a missile is used. This takes into account poorly trained missile operators and defective missiles. And a lot of the missile operators will be poorly trained, and, like November, 2002 incident in Mombassa, using missiles built over two decades ago. They won't be using any of the Stingers the U.S. gave out in Afghanistan during the 1980s. The custom battery packs in those missiles gave out in the 1990s. It's a lot easier to get Russian missiles, and fresh batteries for them.

    Another option for terrorists is to use anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) against larger airliners. An ATGM is more accurate and hitting a 747, taking off, in an engine or the main fuel tank between the wings, there is a

  10. Re:Bah, '80s technology! by The+Other+White+Boy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    i actually meant to post the correction anonymously. however, your little diatribe took up more room than both my posts combined, only to reiterate the point i was making, which is that the moderation system is broken. it's not my fault nobody modded it offtopic.

    christ, calm down.