Slashdot Mirror
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."
If only they made some of those robots similar to Serge Graystone; or perhaps, more appropriately, to few targetbots we've seen in the pilot.
One that hath name thou can not otter
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!
Actually, the videos showed them using it as sniper training. In real life, the targets move around, scatter when shots break out, etc. You can't simulate that with paper targets, and shooting at real people during training generates a lot of paperwork.
I would pay cash to be able to play this.
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.
"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
... and shooting at real people during training generates a lot of paperwork.
Only if you miss.
The robots are for sniping practice. For long range shooting, nothing comes close to the actual thing. You really don't want to put real people out on the range.
I mean sure, they COULD just send their snipers off big game hunting, but that might not play so well.
Give the US its due. Many of its citizens have learned to speak the Queen's English with fairly good results, its just on the spelling front that they apparently have problems. Sadly, up here in Canada a lot of people are adopting the US spellings it seems. I presume this is due to so many spell checkers defaulting to the mangled US spellings for words (if they offer the correct spelling as an option at all).
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
That's ridiculous. Everyone knows that dolphins use sonic amplificators.
I think insurgents in real life can climb stairs. I hope that doesn't come as a nasty shock to some Aussie soldier in the future...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
But we'll know who to call when the Daleks show up...
How utterly ridiculous. Grown men wasting tax payer $ to play real life video games.
Jealousy is an ugly thing ....
Let's just hope they aren't paying the price of an Apache helicopter for these robots.
Its the Australian Army. The only thing they're going to spend the "price of an Apache helicopter" on is an actual Apache helicopter - and even then, that'd be *one* Apache helicopter, and one only.
Not to dispute your point, but we're buying Tiger's. Not sure what we'll do with them. They'll probably hang around here and never deploy, just like the Leopards.
nah, we've given up on both those fronts and figured we might stand a chance of an actual victory if we stick in afghanistan
Wait! Whats a sig?
Have you ever tried to dress a live 'roo? The bastards will beat you up, then start with all four sets of claws.
Why do you think we are in Iraq and Afghanistan :D
Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
Spike Milligan's mostly serious WWII memoirs sum that up fairly well. A lot of waiting about and brief bursts of action appears to be the norm in most conflicts.
I thought aussies are fighting with cane toads and camels.
Indeed they are. Once trained, an Aussie sniper can reliably strike a target with a high-velocity cane toad from up to 2000 meters away. Camels, on the other hand, are too large to fire from a rifle, and require the use of motorized artillery.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
"I mean sure, they COULD just send their snipers off big game hunting, but that might not play so well."
They have been doing that since WW1. The recent shooting of 6000 terrorist camels hardly raised an eyebrow over here.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Not to dispute your point, but we're buying Tiger's
You are buying Tiger's what? Old golf clubs? Whores?