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Radiation Robot Makes Troops Safer
Darkman, Walkin Dude wrote to mention a plucky little radiation-proof robot working to make life easier for folks in the military. From the article: "By this time an hour and a half had gone by, and the team was temporarily out of ideas. Phil had estimated that the robot could remain ambulatory in the radiation field for only 50 minutes, and in fact the robot's lower portion was no longer responding to commands. The RAP team, as a precaution against this very circumstance, working with White Sands personnel had tied a rope to M2 before sending it into the work area. The rope, attached to a RAP team winch 100 feet outside the structure, ensured the robot could be hauled out if radiation damaged its drive unit. But radiation shields now blocked a direct haul. M2 was hemmed in. Using a ten-foot-long pole and standing at the edge of the field (which fanned out like a flashlight beam, strongest at its center and weakest at its edges), team members hooked and then tugged at the rope hauling M2. The deflection of the rope's pull slid the robot around a moveable radiation shield without knocking it over. The RAP team's winch then pulled the robot directly out. "
Seconds later, Sarah Connor grabbed the pole and impaled the robot, destroying its primary power supply. Even as its eyes went dark, emergency systems kicked in to begin rerouting secondary and tertiary power systems.
Wise to the design of robots, Sarah and her son, future savior of humankind John Connor, shoved the robot through a nearby doorway conveniently located right above a steel foundry where it dramatically screamed in electronic pain for a few seconds. And then it was over.
"Is it over, mom?" John asked, panting.
Sarah Connor wiped the sweat out of her eyes. "It's over," she said as the familiar industrial movie soundtrack theme began to play. "It's over."
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
"But radiation that can kill a human also can kill a robot's electronics. Bennett estimated M2 could withstand intense radiation for only 50 minutes." That's alot of elaboration. I know how cells are affected by radiation, and have and idea of how electronics would be, but I haven't heard alot about this problem and don't know for sure. How exactly are electronics affected by this radiation? Cool robot, though. It'll make a great new overlord.
The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it. - William Gibson
" Because the robot lacked a trigger finger to depress and release a drill control, the Sandia team stalked the aisles of local hardware stores, buying cordless drills and other equipment they modified into remotely operated drills, hooks, and grippers."
Awesome, like a poor hardware hacker's dream... a big fat budget for using power tools in a manner inconsistent with their labeling. I think this is the fulfillment of a lot of engineer's reason for being engineers.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
I'ma call shenanigans on this one. And "making life easier for folks in the military?!" In ONE instance, this helped what happened to be a Military research plant. But the poster makes it seem like this'll win the war in Iraq. Seriously, this is a HORRIBLE scew to put on the article.
Rant aside, I think this is very interesting problem solving. Especially the 10-foot poll bit. Just goes to show that technology can't win everything. Not by a long shot. Interesting problem, interesting solution, both very complicated.
Want to find other gamers to play board and role playing game
Perhaps this event will help set a new model for nuclear power plants. While nuclear power plants should not and probably could not be fully automated, deployment of similar robots could make nuclear power safer. Human contact with high levels of radiation could be reduced and the robots might be able to perform maintenance functions that humans could not.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
Then the RAP team started throwing up gang signs and rhyming insults against the enemy....
A chapter of I, Robot.
Did you read the article?
1) The robot is not radiation proof.
2) It was a pain in the ass.
The story is that they fixed a situation with a robot. The robot didn't make life easier, it was necessary because humans couldn't approach the radiation source, even in protective clothing. It took 4 days to do, and the success was mostly due to shrewd hackery on the part of the team operating the robot.
All you need is a HEV suit and a Crowbar. Everyone knows that!
So, how did they assemble this radiation source in the first place??? As an aside, radioactive cobalt bomb is VERY nasty and close to a doomsday weapon.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
this is why the last rule of adventuring is "never forget your 10-foot pole".
Only 2 sp at Anonymously Run General Store!
The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. -Anais Nin
I have to ask...when did restaurants start serving salt that's only somewhat less deadly than cobalt-60?
Software freedom...I love it!
It is neutron flux that will activate non-radioactive materials, not gamma rays.
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I can see the geeks saying:
Yesterday our battalion configured Apache and rebuilt kernels all day.
Seriously, a military humvee looks like something an 8 year old built with an erector set. It's definately not where I'd want to be when an IED goes off. A real military vehicle would be armored. A real military vehicle would have the seats (except for the driver's) facing outward--so you can shoot at the bad guys.
News flash.
The Humvee is not intended for use as an APC or any sort of fighting vehicle. The Humvee is intended as replacement for the Jeep. It is not intended to be fought out of, it is intended as transport. If someone shoots at you while you are in it you may shoot back as you drive off but regarding it as a portable foxhole is foolish at best, utterly suicidal at worst.
The fact that it is enclosed may be what is leading to the current misuse of the vehicle.
If it was produced as a roofless vehicle then perhaps it would be more obvious that it is intended for use as transport only.
I think you are making this up, or else were an ignorant troop. Humvees ARE amored, just not to the level of surviving an IED made of 155mm rounds. They were meant to protect from small arms fire. Uparmored ones are being produced are in in country, just not as much as we would like. Not much except an Abrams is going to survive some of those IEDs.
The unmanned recon planes (such as Predators) exist and are in use. They are painted to blend in almost perfectly with the sky, so you DON'T see them. They are not used too often as they cost a LOT of $$$ and we lose them ever so often (too often). Good recon can be had from other sources, HUMINT is often the best but is hard to get.
Gov't contractors are NOT corrupt. Try working for one. There are incredible hurdles you have to jump thru to make certain all is above-board. And guess what, that costs money! When you have a whole staff of people doing Ethics Training that gets expensive, and each year every employee has to be re-trained to meet some stupid DOD mandate. Like someone forgets thier ethics each year and has to relearn them. The guys/gals in DC approve all the contracts, so if you think you are getting overcharged talk to them. They negotiate the deals and contractors rarely get the price they ask, often they get a lot less.
Woah, calm down. I'm in Iraq. For the second time.
We have these armored IED hunting vehicles. They save lives. And I guess things have changed in the HMMWV department too: ours have been up-armored. I don't want to down play your experience here in Iraq, but things are getting better everywhere, every day.
-t
hi mom!
About the unmanned planes - you're flat out wrong. A predator is built with mostly COTS parts, with a price-tag of $4.5 million - compared with the $300 million price tag of a manned fighter jet.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
While there are many good examples of pork-barrel acquisition programs (military vehicles or otherwise), the HMMWV isn't one of them. It's meant to be a (better) replacement for the Jeep, not an APC.
The erector-set look is probably a direct result of its requirement for logistical supportability and interchangeable components.
Troll--F*CKING--Troll.
I hate you for comming here under the guise of being a Vet., and spewing your leftist propaganda--knowing that you would hit a soft spot. Your insensitive troll only undermines the work the 'real' troops are doing over there. They've been busting their asses, and yes there are equipment issues, manpower issues, and the basic fuckedupedness(tm) of the whole war, but don't come around and try to make your point as a what--Soldier, Marine, Sailor? Who the hell are you? Why are you posting that you've spent 15 months there? You post a whole lot of other shit, but nothing in the plethora of conversations on /. that needed the input of a ground-pounder. A moderately low UID too. What's your deal?
Hmmmmm....
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Dude, you must be new here.
/. since the good old days of GNAA and TrollKore knows about lemonparty, tubgirl, goatse and so on.
There's nothing at all 'well disguised' about the lemonparty website.
Seriously, you must be new here. I'd forgive you if the given link was a redirect, but anyone who's been on
I highly recommend you read wikipedia's entry on shock sites so that you don't get fooled again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shock_sites
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Well, the Interceptor vest each soldier wears is a great piece of technology. American troops also have night vision. MARPAT camo scheme is scientifically designed to hide troops in many conditions (nighttime, wet/dry on an infrared scope, etc.) A little radio call gets JDAMs or GPS-aimed artillery to drop onto an enemy sniper. And about tanks: there's a tradeoff between the weight and the armor. A heavily armored vehicle will move slower and may be shot more (and we hope it can take the extra punishment). A quicker though less armored vehicle can avoid unguided RPG fire (we hope) and can maneuver through alleyways that troops would otherwise have to clear by foot. (Blowing up the whole block is a war crime.) Having the seats face outward means little in the current battle conditions. RPG-armed enemies pop out for a second to get a shot off and then run away behind a corner or into a hole they had dug out. IEDs, well, you don't want to shoot at those at close range. Now, I'm not saying warfare is easy or harmless. I'm saying we have brought a heck of a lot of technology to bear to reduce the load.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
Give them a break. They're only using a Mark 2 Bolo. A Mark XXX Continental Siege Unit would clean up in Iraq: radiation schmadiation.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
You know, the story where the robot was programmed wit a variation on the 3 directives where it would obey a rule unless it caused the robot harm, so it would go into the harmful zone, the cause robot harm rule would trigger, it would back out, the follow rule condition would reassert itself, and so on until the people got back into radio contact and told the robot that this mission needed to be done or the people would die.