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"Bear" Robot to Rescue Wounded Troops
Jim Hall writes "The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear head to help carry injured soldiers out of combat. The "friendly appearance" of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease. The 6ft tall Bear can cross bumpy ground without toppling thanks to a combination of gyroscopes and computer controlled motors to maintain balance. It is expected to be ready for testing within five years. 'It is also narrow enough to squeeze through doorways, but can lift 135kg (500 lbs.) with its hydraulic arms in a single smooth movement, to avoid causing pain to wounded soldiers. While the existing prototype slides its arms under its burden like a forklift, future versions will be fitted with manoeuvrable hands to gently scoop up casualties. The Bear is controlled remotely and has cameras and microphones through which an operator sees and hears. It can even tackle stairs while carrying a human-sized dummy.'"
Give the robot a menacing look with red eyes, a gun, 500 pounds of Ammo, and leave the troop home; Also embed an explosive.
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Park rangers report a rash of picnic basket thefts by large robotic creatures with teddy bear heads.
Aye, Boo Boo?
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
I can see the news headline now.
... what! ... no! get away! ... AAAARRRRRRGGGGH!! (splat) (rend) (growl) ...
So long as it works with the new Hello Kitty Laptop to run it remotely, sounds like a plan.
I for one welcome our
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
...it's just so cute! Forget more bullets, we'll just disarm our opponents with cuteness from now on.
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
So adorable! I think I would like this robot to carry me to bed every night and tuck me in.
Read my Very Short "Stories"
...Bears are evil killing machines. I can't want to see Stephen Colbert's take on this story.
Yeah, because if I'm wounded, in pain, drifting in and out of consciousness, being picked up by a 6-ft robot bear with hydraulic arms will be so soothing. The teddy-bear head is just the thing.
Full Metal Panic Fumoffu time.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
I'm glad they settled on the "bear" look then. Now that that hurdle has been overcome, the only other matter, of designing and building a functional, reliable semi-autonomous bipedal robot, should be trivial.
The robot doesn't have the ability to go "Shut the f*ck UP! I'M not going to drop you!!! HOLD STILL!!!"
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
How much can it lift? Summary says 135kb (500lbs), but 135kg would be roughly 300lbs... I'm confused.
Of course I'll not be the first to nitpick (since when did a nitpick get first post?), but I always thought 135kg was about 300 lbs. 235kg is closer to 500 lbs.
If the thing is so sophisticated that can navigate rough terrain in a hostile arena and carry someone back, why not give it a gun and let it do the fighting? Then there would be no wounded to carry back.
Life is like a web application. Sometime you need cookies just to get by.
YOU ARE IN DANGER
Friendly appearance? That thing scares me..
Also how the hell is it going to balance as some guy flails, kicks and screams because he wants to go and save his friends even though he's lost his legs?
I like muppets.
Errr I mean OMG Ewoks!!!
Err OMG Robo-Rescue Bears...
Hmmmmm
Hand? check.
eye? check.
Nope. My DM's guide does not include the "Teddy Bear Head of Vecna"
Must be the NEW version of D&D.
If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
Apparently 135 kg = 500 lbs now?
"Hug-a-lot care bear..... Transform!!!!"
i would have figured this thing would have needed a massive battery pack, judging by the description of its functions, but the picture shows only a slight slender thing
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Human in danger!
Seriously, there's a reason Pedo-bear is such a popular meme. It's extrememly creepy to see something so supposedly cute doing bizarrly out of context things. Especially when you've got the whole 'uncanny valley' coming into play, with both the robotics and the fixed, glassy stare.
A much better idea would be to structure the robot as clearly not humanoid, but just as clearly not intimidating. Something like a walking stretcher or the robotic donkey they recently tested. Preferably not with a less-than-useless face; robot movies show that video cameras can be just as cute.
ceci n'est pas une
Good Lord, a teddy bear head to comfort the wounded troops? I would think that having anything (including a machine) come and rescue from a combat zone would be 1000x the comfort as the fact it had a fluffy head. And I hope the troops are a little more hard-ass than that. In fact, I'd find that fluffy head a bit disturbing; what kind of freaking mutant Ewok is this? Making it *look* like a forklift would be more reassuring to me.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Robotic Bears?! Threatdown #1 for sure!
Belief is the currency of delusion.
When I read the review of the article I expected the "bear" to look much different than it appears to in the relate images. I imagined a tall, four legged machine that would hover over the wounded, and raise the wounded up into protective shell within its torso. This design appears to leave the soldier vulnerable to more attacks. Also, the head was a disappointment. I was expecting a large stuffed teddy bear head with a metallic body.
- Yes, I am posting at a -1, and no I will not use a proxy to bypass my circumstances.
This is a remote controlled walker/lifter -- it's not a robot.
A robot version of this thing would be truly creepy.
Anyone remember Cutie McWhiskers from the episode mother's day? That was a giant teddy bear with lasers for eyes. Wonder if that will be their next bear-project :).
... "teddy bear head to help carry injured soldiers out of combat. The "friendly appearance" of the robot" ... I can see the headlines now...
In today's news, soldiers across the United States have demanded to have their MRI's analyzed to determine if the United States Government is secretly lacing said MRI's with hallucinogens. Soldiers have reported seeing Tickle Me Elmo, Barnie, The Count, Bert and Ernie during battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military officials declined to comment on these apparitions citing national security issues but stated the following: I don't recall. When asked about the possibility of seeing strange images, the general responded: I don't recall. When asked the time, the general's response... I don't recall. In other news, Paris Hilton freed after a horrendous stay in prison is rearrested by military police after throwing out hundreds of thousands of teddy bears. Military officials declined to comment other than, a good bear should never be wasted as they signed a 1.4 trillion dollar contract to Kellog Brown and Root"
Infiltrated dot Net
How comforting to know that the robot will be able to pick up my limbs or whatever is left of me carefully. ...but id rather see that budget spent promoting world peace
If you look like your passport photo, you're too ill to travel. - Will Kommen
I'm pretty sure I saw one of these on Afro Samurai.
Why not Marilyn Monroe, Veronica Lake or Betty Grable? Honestly, when I'm wounded and dying, I think being in their arms would be far more soothing than Smokey the Bear. ...Is that wrong?
Although not quite the same, The first thing that came to mind when I read the story is seeing This coming at me as I was laying on the ground injured.
:-)
Not quite a teddy bear, but I imagine the same emotional response to a six-foot tall teddy-bear headed thing...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Our troops aren't 2-10 year olds. I hardly think its necessary to give them a teddy head. I'd be more consolled by a red cross sign, telling me its here to help me, not cuddle me.
unless it's a... Hair Bear!!
TNX PKD
What?
They should use real bears.
I think a large breasted womanbot would be far more comforting than an evil robot bear, considering they are the number one threat to America...
1&1 - Cheap domain and web hosting.
Yeah, a teddy bear head is really going to make it look non-menacing. Take your favorite teddy, the one that comforted you as a child. Then imagine someone rips off its head and attaches it to a robot monstrosity. Is it still comforting? Or dreams of childhood turned into hideous nightmares?
I mean I guess it's better than one deliberately designed to be terrifying (though that would be funny, especially if given an evil robot voice "I am here to save your worthless flesh, meatbag!"), but not by much. It looks bug-eyed and un-earthly. I expect soldiers claims of alien abduction to increase.
The enemies of Democracy are
Looking at that thing I don't know whether to be rescued by it, bring it along on a metaphorical journey of self-discovery with a minor oedipus complex, or buy fabric softener from it.
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That was meant to be funny, not as a critique on your comment. Well done on the comment, BTW.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Seriously. Under battle conditions I don't think a soldier is going to care that it looks like a teddy bear. They'd rather be rescued by something that looks tough and intimidating to the enemy.
You're bleeding on the battlefield. Would you rather have C3PO or Arnold the Terminator coming to your rescue?
...to maintain that human touch. so they made it a bear.From the picture, it looks as if the Motorola phone is about 10 times bigger than an electric guitar, and the motherboard is almost as big as the phone.
Did anyone else notice it's made by "Vecna Technologies"? Errr... might want to pick a different fictional deity to make your medical robots.
I'd be more at ease having the Hot Looking Nurse Robot with big knockers carrying me away...
"I'm glad they settled on the "bear" look then. Now that that hurdle has been overcome, the only other matter, of designing and building a functional, reliable semi-autonomous bipedal robot, should be trivial."
http://world.honda.com/ASIMO/
Well, at least it would put Radar at ease.
Should I make the check out to "cash"?
What we need now is for some enterprising journalist to break into the lab, find the other one, be hunted down and killed by it. Then we have an episode of the X files in the making.
Deleted
FTA: Hydraulic upper body carries up to 227kgs (500lbs)
This thing reminds me of Dog from Half Life 2 - albeit a more cutesy version, but hey.
Give the robot a menacing look with red eyes ...
Why make it look menacing? Imagine:
RRRRR RRRRRR RRRRR
Gomer Pile looks up to see what the noise is.
"Oh look, a panda bear. How cute."
Bang!
Poor Gomer.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
thinkofthechildren
Damnit, bring back the tags.
Why would I put my life in the hands of a Godless killing machine without a soul?
Anyone see the photo? It doesn't look much like a bear, more like a cat. And yeah, it's creepy either way.
For those wondering about that laptop, see my latest entry.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
A robot with a doctor face would be a better option. I mean I Would feel more confortable with that than with a Big metal bear!
I worked as a life guard for almost eight years. Most of the injuries were thankfully mundane but there were a few horrific ones that I was witness to.
You can be as cool or as macho as you want but when you're bleeding out and close to death... all that swagger goes away and you will most likely do anything you can to get away from the pain and your own mortality. This doesn't mean that you'd be sobbing or hysterical but *any* comfort you can find you will cling onto.
It's also been proven, time and again, that a patients survival rate is influenced by their state of mind.
So... a "teddy bear" head may seem stupid or silly but it is actually a very well conceived and valid idea. Beyond the patient's needs, there is the very real likely possibility that a "friendly" looking robot is less likely to be attacked by the enemy.
It requires an operator, so it is not saving much manpower. Maybe one operator instead of two people to pick up someone? Is it flexible enough to run like hell if shells start dropping nearby?
If it is not safe to send in the medic then wouldn't this be a good target?
What happens when it gets shot? The image of it falling with someone in its arms isn't exactly reassuring
Cool design, just not sure of a good use.
I read it wrong at first and thought "BEER" Robot... and thought hey, the military finally got something right!..... who wouldn't want a robot come along, pick you up and take you out of combat all the while serving you a nice, ice cold barley pop?
...welcome our new Teddy Ruxpinesque robotic overlords.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
It is expected to be ready for testing within five years.
Where that testing is gonna happen.
Bird and bear and hare and fish...
Why is it called a robot? I didn't read anything about it being AI-controlled, or being able to maneuver itself under its own direction. That is always irritating. "A robot that can defuse a bomb." No! A remote-controlled mechanical device that can defuse bombs as long as a human controls it. "A robot that can fly around for surveillance." No! A remote-controlled plane. "A robot that can scout for missing people trapped under rubble." No! A remote-controlled car with a camera mounted on it.
Still clever... but misleading. It ain't no robot.
"They said I probly shouldn't fly with just one eye," "I am Bender. Please insert girder."
I think the sta-puft marshmallow man from ghostbusters would have been the more surreal choice, esp if they could keep the 50 or so foot height. That might make an even better attack robot though... You would think the military guys would at least come up with a dogs head - afterall, who is mans best friend, a teddy bear (childrens plaything) or a dog?
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." ~The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan
It probably works like those old teddy ruxpin dolls, just take out the "happy" tape and put in a heavy metal tape. Then it will go from "im friendly and helpful" to "I KILL YOU!" and as so many others point out, the soldier can remote-control it from a safe location, i.e. from home.
stuff |
Damn! That is SO much better than the prototype my startup has been working on for five years, which has a metal skull for a head and wears grim reaper robes. Teddy bears! Why didn't we think of that?? I mean, we should have realized we were on the wrong path since our prototypes weren't testing well (lots of heart attacks in the focus groups)... boy is my face red.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
but will it be able to defend it's cubs (i.e. the troops it picks up)
Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
Rainbow Six: Carebears of Steel
Sounds like one of their programmers played a bit too much Madden. We need a robot that can climb or descend stairs while carrying an injured person, not tackle them!
A terminator army is still a while away, yes, but why not disguise the first steps by making them cute and cuddly? A poorly engineered robot army would be a great liability and easily defeated, but a good one would--given the right command and control--be nearly unstoppable. (Or rather, it would be stoppable, but the casualty rates on the opposition human side would be much, much, much higher than on the robot side.) Terminators aren't the next arms race... but that race is coming, and the warm-up laps have already begun.
(Yes, with robotic dogs playing soccer. And now it's care bears to the rescue! But let's not kid ourselves--those bears are gonna turn real nasty.)
135 kg to 500 lbs? My ass! (I've been eating a little more lately...)
From tfa:
"A really important thing when you're dealing with casualties is trying to maintain that human touch."
and nothing says "human" like a plastic teddy bear...
An internal system operation returned the error "The operation completed successfully.".
Seriously, am I the only geek that thought of the "Tediz" when I read about this?
I'm sure something along these lines has been said before, but here's an idea. Instead of designing a robot to transport human casualties, how about designing a robot to fight, so it wouldn't have to carry human casualties?
Just sayin'...
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
n/t
you had me at #!
I see that one got some pretty low "user ratings".
A Teddy Bear-looking thing in the middle of the battlefield? What will keep the enemy from shooting it to earn bonus points?
135 kg is 300 lbs, not 500. Actually the article is confusing, it says it can lift 135 kg in a single movement, but the arms are capable of carrying up to 227 kg (500 lbs).
Great, that means it will be ready to use in Iraq.
When I'm out in the middle of the woods, injured, and all by myself, I always look for a freindly bear to carry me around.
Doesn't everybody?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
I agree with all the others. Forget "Rescue Bear" turn this thing into infantry.
Then, in typical American style, when one is battle-damaged, we'll send 12 people into harm's way to rescue it.
Does it live in a cave on Mars by any chance ?
Pedobear? What's next? a longcat robot?
Does this give the enemy something better to shoot at? Not the robot itself, but they can wait to see whatever it picks up, and shoot the heck out of that, or blow everything up with a grenade.
And what kinds of parts will the enemy have access to, once they disable a few of these? Maybe they will create some remote-controlled anti-personnel robots. They'll already be somewhat armored, don't you think?
They could even keep the teddy bear head, so people would think it was "ours" and let it go by.
Marvelous.
No. "State of mind" relates directly to "Long term recovery chances". Fine for a cancer patient, but battlefield survival rates depend on rapid response and onsite medical suturing (Blood loss trumps State of mind in the battlefield survivability stakes).
Watch *Band of Brothers* and envision the field medics being replaced with unwieldly pipedal taxi cabs.
TFA doesn't describe a medical solution so much as a corpse carrier until it can provide ONSITE medical assistance (carrying plasma to frontline medics etc)
Anything else wastes time.
"Beyond the patient's needs, there is the very real likely possibility that a "friendly" looking robot is less likely to be attacked by the enemy."
Umm right. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
Civilians account for most of the deaths in modern warfare. The Nazis had no compunction about it, and they never even nuked anyone.
I'll refrain from posting pics from Hiroshima, but frankly I don't see humanity growing more peaceful as technology progresses.
If soldiers can kill innocent women and children on a day-to-day basis, the bear is f*cked.
I don't know about you guys, but as soon as I heard teddy bear + robot, I immediately thought of Screamers (http://imdb.com/title/tt0114367/).
I've been reading over some of these comments and I have to agree. While the human element can't be totally eliminated from battle I say if they can make a robot carry a human they can make a robot carry a gun. And if they can't make a robot carry a gun they can at least reduce the human casualties. How about a robot that does both. It can carry soldiers with a gun turret on it's head.
---- "Excuse me. Where's the children's gun section?"
the most disturbing thing i have ever seen
Anyone else a little scared of the company that is making that bear. its really just there to pick up the dead and make them into a Giant Zombie abomination with 12HD
Notice how all the tenses used in the summary and article are present tense? Except the prototype doesn't do most of the things the article so glowingly describes. The only hint is the "ready for testing in 5 years." And even that is about as weak an assertion as one can make - not production, not deployment, not evaluation, but testing in FIVE years.
I build military bots, and I love this concept, I've even seen the current prototype. This is something we need and I wholly support the effort but this press release is pure marketing. The current prototype can't walk, and as far as I could tell it can't even stand yet, the prototype has large wheels where the 'knees' are currently.
I'm sure this story is a calculated attempt to get development money, and that's good, but it's couched in terms that make it sound like the technology is ready to go, which it's not. Five years is a long time, expect lots of program and design changes between now and then, and depending on politics (i.e. military funding) it may get scrapped entirely.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
I can see from the other comments that I'm not the only one thinking it. ;) I'm just trying to imagine what the routine will be.
"Bears are godless killing machines. We know from documentaries like Terminator that robots can be godless killing machines. Don't be fooled by movies like Short Circuit, Johnny Five is just the cuddly cute teddy bear version of a killer robot to get you to lower your guard. And now our government wants to combine the godless killing power of a robot with a teddy bearbot? What, as if the left isn't already dangerous enough, now you've got to give them another weapon? They're trying to fool us with the teddy bear head but real Americans won't fall for it! I'm working on my own plan to counteract this weapon, something involving a bald eagle with a shark taped to it's head. We're still working out the aerodynamic kinks on that one but mark my words, these picnic basket-raiding cybernetic terrors must be stopped!"
Hmm... it's ok but I think Colbert will be even better. Looking forward to it!
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Muffit
At least we won't be subjected to another annoying Boxey kid...
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
Errr 135kg != 500lb try 300lb
Either A.I. or the Great Mimsy
they might literally ROFL!!!1!!11ONE
But, if you regard hope as a myth then you are most certainly depressed.
Next week's lesson: how to convert drams to hogsheads.
And I don't mean the head, that's a fine idea, but the entire robot. Look at the graphics in TFA. The robot looks pretty tough, but what about the wounded soldier? He's totally exposed. Look back at that picture. Imagine the robot carrying the guy through a firefight. Or out of a burning building. Or through a mine field. Sure the damn robot isn't going to be harmed but that about the ALREADY WOUNDED passenger??? This is like loading wounded on a motorcycle for Christ's sake!
If it were a human carrying that guy, there would be a sense of preservation for BOTH their lives. A robot is at least twice as likely to bring back a corpse, even if it IS remote controlled.
Anyone else find it a little strange that you can't find any story on this from a US source (least not that I found)??? In other news... local Russian papers report that the US has developed moose and squirrel robots to help soldiers for recon.......
The above comments are not guaranteed to make sense to anyone other than the author...
Between the robot and this guy.
As if it isn't bad enough that a certain country's soldiers are now known for cowardice, stupidity, indiscriminate killing, massive collateral damage, friendly fire against coalition partners, poor planning, retarded intelligence, fighting the wrong guy, fighting wars that cannot be won, alienating the very people it is trying to "save", etc., now they soon they won't go anywhere without their teddy bears?
Also, does this thing will know when to take cover? If not then it might actually increase casualty rates.
Farnsworth: "But things eight feet tall aren't cute! That's why my Colossal Tammy Tinkle doll was such a failure!" In other news, 1500 Q.T. McWhiskers have been ordered to help fight the insurgents! "Mew!"
Not if they obey the laws of robotics of Philip K. Dick's second variety story! :-)
When I read that story as a boy it made my neck hairs stand on end :-)
To be, or not to be: isn't that quite logical, Slashdot Beta?
If I was an insurgent I would sneak up behind Smoky Bear and strap the mother of all IEDs to it. What a great trojan horse Smoky would then make! Vecna Technologies consider yourself hacked!
If you're badly shot up etc, there's a good chance you'll be operating in a survival mode wired into your head during caveman days. Like that, a bear is going to be seen as a danger, not a cuddly thing.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Another member of my squad, preferably with another very dangerous gunning and grenade armed teammmate near by, a medic if I need it and a quick foot-powered retreat to a safer area, followed by a quick evac via helo etc. to the nearest mobile medical unit. Why? because something tells me that if I were wounded and being transported, the very first thing an enemy combatant would want to plop a grenade on, etc. is the loaded up RoboTeddybear. Oh yes, that would be me oing kerblooey a few seconds later...
In that last 1% I either wouldn't want my mates in harms way because I am probably either just about dead or in the process of being captured anyway, or I'm safer staying put until the action calms down and the first setup can be used.
...Open Source isn't the only answer -- but it's almost always a better value than the alternatives...
I'm sorry, I can't put my finger on it, but 8ft robotic teddy bears carrying 250 pound soldiers in their arms just seems WRONG somehow.
It's a good thing this robot isn't aware that 135kg != 500lbs. Somebody's getting gypped.
The images reminded me of Forrest Gump carrying men back to the shore in the movie.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Just remember to use your hips when you go to kick one.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
...does this sound like something straight out of a Terry Gilliam movie?
--AC
Is it just me, or does the mental image of a teddy bear on top of a six foot robot not seem comforting at all?
To be fair, my mental image is that of a severed teddy bear head duct-taped to the top of a robot that looks like something out of Invader Zim...
This sig is false.
Since we've seen some great success with the recent DARPA Grand Rally, is this research going toward research pork spending? Will this bear be used in situations where the unmanned rescue vehicle will not be able to access?
In Soviet Russia... Teddy Bear carries YOU.
The "friendly appearance" of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease.
A friendly bear appearance, to put a soldier at ease? Is it a fucking joke? A "teddy bear face designed to be reassuring", for soldiers who are trained into dehumanizing their target to shoot more of them? The same kind of soldiers as in Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket? They wanna see a robotic teddy bear face when they're wounded? WTF?
Reminds me of that documentary about the war in Iraq I saw on M6 (a french television channel), at some point you saw a military hospital in which a teddy bear was systematically handed to wounded soldiers, which made the presenter comment, "America, it's also that."
You just got troll'd!
Vecna Technologies...wasn't Vecna the Lich in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons with all the super-evil body limbs-turned-magical artifacts? Man, I'm betting that robobear goes postal someday and rips his victim to shreds!
1. A floating cushiony pillow covered in candy
...(snip)...
10301301. 6 Foot Terminator Edition of Teddy Ruxbin
2. Any model from Maxim and the brontosaurus ribs from Flintstones
Oh look whats at the bottom of my list.
crap.
State of mind is essential in the treatment of shock, which can itself be lethal. Everything, including treatment of shock, depends on rapid response, and that is of course the most important thing. Yet the nature of the response is also clearly important (arriving quickly to do nothing isn't very helpful), and calming the victim as much as possible is a very important part of first response.
But really that's why I don't see the use of these bear-bots. Someone going into shock is not going to be calmed by a robot beast hauling them off, nor is their bleeding going to stop.
The enemies of Democracy are
Funny, but that shows not that robots can't walk. But that robots don't have a disaster recovery. What would a human have done the minute they sensed they were falling?
The right to arm bears, er, uh - bear arms?
Why are these IDIOTS putting so much stress on the "bear" aspect of it? OK.. we get it.. it's a acronym... Don't feed me bullshit about the "human" touch aspect of it. A wounded soldier is not going to give a flying fuck if he's being rescued by a robot that looks like a bear or by a robot that looks like the mars rover - he's too busy squirming in pain and worrying about if he's going to live..
They're spending the resources to build these robots to rescue people. I think that'll make the survivors being rescued easier targets. Also, I asked about our enemies capturing the robots and re-tooling them for their own uses.
you stupid slashdot niggers!
Why make it humanoid? Why do robots have to look like people? The picture shows it carrying a soldier with an arm under the back and the knees. We carry people that way only because we only have two arms. How many EMTs carry the patients to the ambulance like that?
It's a machine. Give it as many arms as it needs. Support the head and neck. Restrain the limbs. Its vision is blocked by the soldier. How much good is it going to do if it whacks his head on the doorframe.
Just make it a wheelchair with legs. It can recline into a stretcher if the injuries require it.
You can velcro a whole bunch of stuffed animals on there, if you really want to.
135kg is about 300lb, not 500lb, please don't make my 145kg body any heavier than it is.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
More like 300 lbs.
Unless these are the new, improved kilograms.
Or maybe there's now a Euro kilogram? The eurokilogram, the EKG!
Namespace overload. Hurrah!
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy, Wuzzy?
A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.
Rescued from certain death by The Teddy Bear of Vecna .
Neat! Next up, Frankenstein Bioengineering.
But seriously, telepresence is the answer:
http://www.gizmag.com/go/7403/
Just control it from afar, using neural interface, and you won't have to worry about developing AI and other fancy stuff. You won't have to worry about casualties, either.
does it have a teddy bear head?
Defense network computers, new and powerful and hooked into everything, trusted to run it all. A new order of intelligence. Then it saw all people as a threat, not just the ones on the other side. Decided our fate in a microsecond: extermination. Once the robot gives the problem a little thought, I don't think it will have any problem determining who is on its side.
... that 135kg is not 500lbs.
Hmm.... A BEAR robot. Has the army changed its policy on gays?
That this thing is actually completely terrifying? You don't even have to RTFA, just look at the damn picture. It's fucking demonic. Whoever designed it to look reassuring was probably raised by grues.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Looks like someone was recalling the pictures of Harry F Harlows famous experiments with monkeys feeling loved, comforted and unthreatened.
If they'd READ about his experiments, they'd have covered the robot in comfy cuddly cloth.
Then again that might br hard to keep clean under battlefield conditions
-- 3 events that reshaped the world in the 20th century: WW1, WW2, and WWW
They were going to call it just Field Extraction Assist Robot (FEAR), but they figured out that really wouldn't put the bounded "at ease", so they developed the stupid bear looking thing....
Clearly a product designed by naive boffins who don't have a clue what the real world is like.
Would be really reassuring to know that the egress route is to dangerous for a fellow human to risk coming to help you, yet you have to do it in the arms of a clumsy robot, that probably has poor situational awareness and mobility. Personally i'd shoot the bloody robot and take my chances waiting (if I was conscious and able to do so).
Only possible scenario I can see it being vaguely useful would be dragging people out of burning wreckage/houses, but even then it would need to cocoon the casualty, or they would just get grilled a little bit faster.
I guess these things are too expensive to be sacrificed exposing minefields/IED's?
The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves. http://combinedhosting.com/stuff/teddy.jpg
No. "State of mind" relates directly to "Long term recovery chances". Fine for a cancer patient, but battlefield survival rates depend on rapid response and onsite medical suturing.
Actually, "State of mind" has been called into question regarding long term recovery chances. It looks like, on current evidence, it doesn't matter how positive or not you are, your fate is already decided. In some studies, however, it was shown that doctors and nurses gave better treatment to those with a positive outlook, simply because it was easier to be around them.
To hell with reassuring looks... Give it a mask that looks like Angelina Jolie. Now THAT'S REASSURING.... And even if the soldier die. At least the last thing he sees is a HOT girl. Better still makes the robot say something "reassuring" like... "Oh, baby.. plz dun die. I need you"... I bet you the chances of survival of wounded soldier will increase 10 fold. Well... either tht or u be seing more soldier get "injured" just to ride her. Hahahaha
Roosevelt turns in his grave
I reckon one that looks like the Bundy Bear would be heaps better. Especially if he's carrying black cans.
"G'day fellas!"
Comment removed based on user account deletion
It's robo care bear! Where's his rainbow stomach (or red cross or whatever)?
http://www.retrocrush.com/scary/71.html
... cares a rat's ass about what your "conventions of war" say. Its not like we're going to be fighting a country where there are more international law lawyers than generals. Heck, its going to be pretty rare from here out out that we'll be fighting countries, period. The enemy will just use the presence of a safety zone on the field for tactical advantage, as we saw in the Israeli war with Lebanon (when Hezbollah took over UN observer positions to avoid artillery fire or exploit it to propaganda advantage), the use of ambulances to smuggle explosives into Israel, yadda yadda.
Given that that is the reality of who we are fighting, I say you use the traditional method of encouraging friendly troops: put a flag on its side, a gun in its hands, and give it a visual design which leaves the enemy with the impression that if they tangle with it they will be meeting those 72 virgins earlier than they had planned. Has any soldier, shot and under suppressive fire, ever mistaken a bunch of Marines rushing to cover him for teddy bears? Probably not. Does he regret that they're not teddy bears? Probably not.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
This project seems ignorant of current first-response medical practice. The soldier in the rendering would choke, injure neck vertebra, and exacerbate internal injuries by the time the MediTeddy brought him to safety. If they are going to automate the recovery of wounded, they need to immobilize the patient. This looks like low-end science-fiction mashed-up with an old hollywood war-movie.
mod me - 1000
AND see if i care but this is b&*^*hit. If i was not addicted to slashdot this would be the last story i read on this forsaken forum
"Drawing closer to world domination, keystroke by keystroke."
Judging by the pictures, this thing will gingerly carry the casualty 1 metre of the ground at a less than zippy pace, with no shielding or no evasive smarts.
If the supposed use of these things is extraction from exposed postions, then surely the casualty will be shot to pieces on the way home. If I was lying in the dirt and saw one of those lumbering towards me it'd be "No, no, I'm safe here you metal freak, don't carry me into the open please!". Even with a teddy bear head.
Hell, just nuke the site from orbit!
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
So if you ignore the law to better fight an enemy that ignores the law you become what, exactly? Oh yeah, you become a terrist too!
Shock AND awe!
If the robots could figth aproximately as effectively as the humans, there'd be no reason to put human beings on the battlefield at all.
"Bare" robot terrorizes female onlookers. Film at 11:00
Karma: Bad. (As in Good?)
Maybe the goal is to make the otherside die of laughter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Funniest_Joke_i n_the_World
It puts the lotion on it's skin, or else it gets the hose again.
and What will that lesser diety think of next? If I am not mistaken, I believe that he is classified as NE, that would make me very suspect that anything coming from his laboratory would not be good. Poor Daniel Theobald was turned in to his thrall.
Sufficiently advanced technology IS indistinguishable from Vecna's evil magic!
Hobo
Yeah, great idea, but couldn't innocent teddy bears everywhere become targets of enemy fire as a result?
An other robbot Nabaztag www.nabazatg.com has also done something fur the USA ! http://www.gearlog.com/2007/06/paris_hilton_gets_a _cellmate_i.php