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A New Workhorse For DARPA
Roland Piquepaille writes "Later this month, Carnegie Mellon University and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will unveil the successor of the Spinner, a 7-ton unmanned robotic vehicle. Dubbed Crusher, this new 6.5-ton robot will be able to carry payloads of up to 2 tons on very complex terrains. Crusher will rely on surrounding sensors to keep its balance and learn about its environment. After intensive testings, it should start to perform its duties in 2008. Read more for additional details and pictures of Spinner and Crusher in action." However, I can see they have not yet performed the test of having Sigourney Weaver fight a hitchhiking alien with it, which is obviously crucial to our national defense.
I read those names and thought that these guys are some serious ST fans...
Crusher will rely on surrounding sensors to keep its balance and learn about its environment.
The more they stay the same!
Can they transform and combine to form Devastator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructicons yet?
What I think they mean is,
Here's a pic of the robot in action
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
Spiner and Crusher are obviously takeoffs on the actors and characters of Star Trek the Next Generation. Brent Spiner playing Lt. Cmdr Data and Gates McFadden playing the ever-luscious Dr. Beverly Crusher.
How ironic, then, that these unmanned war machines fly in the face of the famous Star Trek TOS episode A Taste of Armageddon where the inhabitants of a planet who have been at war with each other for 500 years have simply learned to accept casualty-less war as normal life. The people who have been selected to die go to their death chambers and are peacefully snuffed out. No one has the will to stop fighting because no one really gets hurt.
How much lower will our resolve to make peace be when the cost to ourselves in a war is insignificant? When we count our casualties by the amount of toys broken than the number of lives lost?
Fuck these guys. War should be fought by people. It should be a horrific ordeal and one that is not entered into lightly. Making decisions based on the knowledge that there are no repercussions is tantamount to driving down Route 66 with a blindfold. Maybe you'll miss everything in the road. However the more likely outcome is that you'll kill everyone out there and evenutally yourself. This type of weapon makes America more unsafe, more prone to domestic terrorism, and more likely to get involved in other frivolous wars.
Here's a movie
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
Soon we'll be able to invade other countries and slaughter defenceless civilians without having to put a foot outside the USA.
Army recruits can be as fat as they like - it'll just be their game-playing skills which are needed.
And politicials will be voted into power by outbidding genocide...
"Vote for me and I will invade the Middle East, Europe, Asia..."
Am I the only one who's wondering why we need all these bright new weapons once the Cold War finished? Oh, sorry, we now have the Long War (specially named to ensure that it doesn't stop after only 45 years, like the last one did, and leave a lot of people out of work)!
I am wondering how much of this technology is adapted from technology created for the DARPA Grand challenge? There are some interesting connections there, notable the involvement of Carnegie Mellon University. They didn't win the DARPA challenge, but they seemed to be the favorites from the outset, and took second and third place. I know that they are known for their robotics department, but did they work with DARPA as a result of thier participation in the Grand Challenge? Anyone have any insight on this?
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
Uh... So when are we going to see a consumer version of this beast? Ala, the Jeep and the Hummer.
And painted it pink. 6.4 tons? Whoa. That's a whole lot o' robot lovin, even in lunar gravity.
--
Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
And so it begins. Who's putting bets on judgement day? ;)
[%] Cingular Ringtones
I hear it's nickname is "Wesley" - it's kind of annoying while at work, but a really nice guy when not working.
Here's a good resource for Darpa's unmanned vehicle race: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/
http://religiousfreaks.com/Being able to transport items combat troops is definitely going to be a major use for these machines so I have to ask the question. How long before they are armed? After all if you can just shoot it up it pretty much negates its use, if it can target and return fire that would aid the mission. Of course if you can defend yourself you can be offensive.
This would not only be useful in "declared zones" but undeclared humanitarian ones as well. Think of a place like Dafur (who everyone refuses to allow combat troops to go to - NATO was told no as well) where you have militants who would definitely intefere with aid packages.
Machines like this could also be equipped to go places too hazardous or just generally inaccessible by normal means. Drop one or two off in the remote areas for monitoring of conditions... If they could survive forest fires they could be used to rescue smoke jumpers who get in trouble or deliver supplies over logging roads through already burning areas.
One of the few times automating transport is harder for ground based versus air based.
On another note, how long before some developer decides to make them look closer to some famous movie machines?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Wow! With an unmanned behemoth like that, we'll find bin Laden in no time!
I wish there were a check box on my taxes that said, "Don't spend my tax money on military BS."
"In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user. You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total.loser." -Weird Al
Here is a direct link to the video of Crusher in action http://www.rec.ri.cmu.edu/projects/ugcv/videos/ind ex.htm
This would be a great step toward unmanned equipment transport between Hot Zones.
Pre-planned combat information would be set and you could send this bad boy into battle to deliver supplies to front lines, carry out casualties, or even deliver pizza to the newly taken neighborhood.
I know I'll get whacked for this last comment, but here goes:
War is a fact of life, it will never go away, so quit whining. However, we can create things like this to minimize losses (to both our troops and enemies).
An excellent use of technology.
someone decides they want to deliver a bomb with it and the thing figures out its payload/mission will destroy it?
Which leads to the next question, can this thing communicated with other robots to solve problems and/or coordinate manauevers/missions? That is a fair question for search and rescure as well as search and destroy. Multiple units could coordinate their sweeps and scans.
At the Mosel sportatorium,
Sunday! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!
If not, we can't call it Metal Gear yet. (Which means FOXHOUND won't highjack it and the DARPA chief is safe till then.)
Only if I get a box to check that says "Please spend all of my tax dollars on giant killer robots, and none of it on educating poor people or any other pansy shit."
Seriously -- that's not a road you want to go down. Given a choice, I think a lot more people will put their money towards Things That Go Boom instead of rather boring stuff like education, libraries, or highway maintenance.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Do not trust the crusher robot
He is malfunctioning
Do you have stairs in your house?
The Crushinator (http://tfp.killbots.com/scans/223_crushinator.png ) is real.
it's very use in battle has been decreed a war crime
> Am I the only one wishing they'd paint the latter one pink, give it a big feather boa, and call it "The Crushinator"?
No, you are not
Fuck these guys. War should be fought by people.
Well, in a perfect world, wars would be fought by a handful of kids and nerf darts. In a perfect world we wouldn't have B-52s and nuclear bombs.
But guess what... War isn't about being nice. War is about destroying the enemy any means possible.
War is horrible yes, but if you think they are making robots just to save human life because they are humanists, you've got another thing coming.
Robots are coming because they win wars. Sure... A dead soldier is less expensive than a robot, but what happens in a protracted war in which a nation has tens if not hundreds of thousands of casualties like WWII?
They can build more robots, but they can't instantly build more men. Germany lost WWII simply because it could not replace its huge casualties in its officer core nor replace all its well trained fighter pilots after several years of attrition.
What if this same nation could simply replace all its air craft with automated fighters and robotic tanks?
The simply have to outproduce the enemey and they win.
Any nation that fails to use robotics in warfare will loose to a nation that correctly implements said technology. We simply do not have a choice.
Wars will be fought by robots.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
I totally crushed a beer can with my forehead after watching those cars get smashed at the end of the second linked video. ROCK ON!
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Maybe you'll ANNOY 'em to death...
/.'ll let ANYBODY have mod points these days...
And HTF did your asinine and quite obviously TROLLSOME post get modded "Insightful"?!?!?!?!?!?!?!(!!)
geez,
RC vehicles have been around for ages. To me, the only interesting question is: HOW is it controlled? How are the commands authenticated? concealed? transmitted (and jammed?) What happens when the signal is lost? What happens when bogus signals are received?
The information security is all that really matters.
If I were designing it, I would use a directional antenna to a satelite using RSA-type signed commands. This would be over a key-shifting or OTP encrypted link. As a backup, I would use a laser ink to a blimp or baloon.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
What we have here... is a robot gap!
:q! Oh crap, not again...
I predict that eventually one of the unintended consequences of using more autonomous vehicles on the battlefield will be that the U.S. military's response to any hostile force will be viewed as being "disproportionate" and unjust.
In other words, if our "soldiers" are robots and their soldiers are men, then their attacks will simply kill our robots, but our subsequent response will kill men. Adversaries will decry, "How can you go around shooting our people when all we did was shoot at a few of your machines? You bastards!"
I hope that after I die the one word people use to describe me is "resurrected."
Robots in space, or at the top of very tall mountains. And our task will be to repair those robots.
The first was called Spinner, but the second was called Crusher. Is that because "Fuchikoma" was already taken? My ghost is whispering to me...
=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
Friday, April 14, 2006
Dissociated Press
Washington, D.C.
The U.S. national debt underwent gravitational collapse today, forming the first-ever fiscal singularity.
"You fools, you've doomed us all!" Republican Sen. John McCain, a longtime foe of government waste, was heard shouting as he clung desperately to a railing in the Capitol Building. Shortly thereafter, McCain lost his grip, plummeting into the event horizon and ending a long career in American politics.
Authorities are continuing to evacuate the D.C. area as the government relocates to emergency facilities in Crystal Springs, Colorado. It is estimated that up to three-quarters of the U.S. Congress may have lost their lives in the unfolding disaster. Governors across the nation are already preparing to announce appointments and schedule special elections to replace those members of Congress lost to what some have dubbed "the red hole."
It is unclear at this time what the government's response will be. While the administration has made no official comment, reports have circulated that one senior official was heard to say "Can't we just pour some more money into the damn thing until it closes up?" Sources indicate that the Federal Reserve Chaiman promptly bitch-slapped him. A state of emergency has been declared, and many political analysts consider it only a matter of time until martial law is imposed.
Fighting has already raged around Cape Canaveral as angry mobs descended on the Kennedy Space Center, spurred by rumors that the staff were preparing to flee the planet. NASA employees took up arms in defense of the facility, using a surprisingly large arsenal of weapons to drive the throngs of angry Floridians back. One employee, a bakclava-clad gunman who insisted on being identified as "The Anonymous Coward," commented on the assault. "This is when years of playing Counter-Strike really pay off," he said, gesturing to the bodies scattered around the perimeter fences. "Talk about ownage."
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, clad in body armor and a bandoleer of 30mm grenades, dismissed the spacecraft rumors. "An interstellar ark is absolutely ridiculous," he stated. "Even if we had an Orion, where would we get the bombs for it?" When asked what an "Orion" was, Griffin stammered something about a constellation and quickly changed the subject. "The important thing is that we get our families here so we can, uh, keep them safe," he concluded.
Military units have flatly refused orders to quell the disturbance. "I've heard they have aimbots and wallhacks," explained Sergeant Gil Hamilton of the Florida National Guard. "How the hell are we supposed to defend ourselves against that?"
World reaction to the U.S. fiscal disaster has mostly been fatalistic. "I always knew the yanks would kill us all," said Lorna Morgan of Cardiff, Wales, "but I thought it would be with nukes or global warming."
Spinner surely refers to the fact that it moves around wildly because they can't get the controls corrected, and Crusher refers to what inevitably happens when they try to move it around objects
Wrong. Spinner is named after the ability of the center core to spin around the longitudinal axis in order to right the comm and sensor masts after the vehicle is inverted.
I don't know why they picked the name Crusher, but I'm guessing it has to do with a demo of Spinner where they ran over a car to show the terrainability of the design.
Of course, your explanation for the names is still funny...
Disclaimer: I know some of the people on the team.
Thing is we don't want "New and improved!" wars, we just don't want wars.
I won't even go into how ridiculous the project in question is.