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Aussie Army Trains With Fleet of Robots On Segways
kkleiner writes "The armed forces of the world have already begun to hunt down and shoot robots. No, it's not the beginning of the man-machine war; it's a state-of-the-art training simulation that's very cool to watch. Australia-based Marathon Robotics has taken Segways and turned them into human-shaped autonomous robots capable of moving around streets and buildings just like people in a crowd! The Marathon bots can act like insurgents, hostages, or civilians, letting armed soldiers practice before being exposed to the real thing. The Australian Department of Defense already has a training camp using the robots, and the US Marine Corps will be establishing one this year."
Few can command respect by being simultaneously resourceful and comical. Aussies seem to accomplish this feat regularly.
Hats off, mates! Seriously, as an engineer, I think this is awesome.
It's somehow Pythonesque, but I can't put my finger on it.
I can see the fnords!
I, for one, welcome our new Segway-riding military android overlords!
Why couldn't they have rigged up some cheap 4-wheeled robots to carry targets around? Then there would be no need for the expensive Segway balancing mechanisms.
There is a world of difference between holding a rifle in your hand in the field vs a computer sim.
When you have spent a year or so shooting 100+ robots dressed up in various ways and moving in various patterns, it's not that different shooting a couple of insurgents. Almost like robots.
Hmmm. How would YOU train soldiers? There were no segways, no robots back in my day. Or, more accurately, the few robots we had were capable of very limited functions, like loading a missile onto a missile launcher.
As already mentioned, blowing holes in paper targets is exactly that, a hole in a paper. Papers don't move, except a few rather complicated setups which move the target in one linear direction, or the reverse. Those robots can move in at least two dimensions, at varying speeds, and probably in 3 dimensions if ramps are built for them. Pretty good training, really. And as Gravatron has already pointed out, shooting at people can ruin people's days.
Let's just hope they aren't paying the price of an Apache helicopter for these robots.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Someone actually found a viable real-world application for Segway that isn't a publicity gimmick.
It's called paintball.
"Grown men wasting tax payer $ to play real life video games. It just goes to show you how much money can be wasted on 'defense' spending, and no one bats an eyelid."
And what is your suggestion to train for realistic scenarios? Dolphins with frickin' laser beams?
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
How utterly ridiculous. Grown men wasting tax payer $ to play real life video games.
Jealousy is an ugly thing ....