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DARPA's Headless Robotic Mule Takes Load Off Warfighters
Hugh Pickens writes writes "If robots are ever really going to carry the equipment of US soldiers and Marines, they're going to have to act more like pack animals. Now Terri Moon Cronk reports that DARPA's semiautonomous Legged Squad Support System — also known as the LS3 — will carry 400 pounds of warfighter equipment and walk 20 miles at a time also acting as an auxiliary power source for troops to recharge batteries for radios and handheld devices while on patrol. 'It's about solving a real military problem: the incredible load of equipment our soldiers and Marines carry in Afghanistan today,' says Army Lt. Col. Joseph K. Hitt, program manager in DARPA's tactical technology office. The robot's sensors allow it to navigate around obstacles at night, maneuver in urban settings, respond to voice commands, and gauge distances and directions. The LS3 can also distinguish different forms of vegetation when walking through fields and around bushes and avoid logs and rocks with intelligent foot placement on rough terrain (video). The robot's squad leader can issue 10 basic commands to tell the robot to do such things as stop, sit, follow him tightly, follow him on the corridor, and go to specific coordinates. Darpa figures that it's illogical to make a soldier hand over her rucksack to a robotic beast of burden if she's then got to be preoccupied with 'joysticks and computer screens' to guide it forward. 'That adds to the cognitive burden of the soldier,' Hitt explains. 'We need to make sure that the robot also is smart, like a trained animal.'"
Many of the the superstitious, ill-educated tribesmen that U.S. ground troops regularly encounter already think the Americans are witches. A headless donkey scampering along with supplies will really mess with the heads of the rag-heads. Maybe some of them will flee in terror instead of shooting at our soldiers. Really, what's not to like? You'll excuse me for a moment whilst I cackle in wicked laughter and stroke my black cat with the unnaturally intelligent glow in its eyes. ^_^
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
Have you seen this platform? Most Harley's are quieter, most rock concerts are too. You could avoid this thing like a ghost avoids Mrs. Pacman after she swallows a power pellet.
Sounds like a very expensive donkey/mule replacement. Why not just use real animals?
How much can a donkey carry?
How far can a donkey travel for before "recharging"?
How quiet is a donkey? Would the donkey sounds draw as much unwanted attention?
How much money would it cost to pick up a donkey in a local market and then feed it?
How many bullets can a donkey take (or even near misses) before all your equipment is leaving you at a rapid pace?
Robots don't startle (or die) easy.
An animal has common sense, which makes it a poor companion for military use without a ton of training and even then it's pretty vulnerable.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
This is perfect for me. I love sports, so long as I'm the one watching them and not playing them. I hate exercise. I love TV, eating and shopping, but carrying my purchases around the shopping center is hard work. Oh yeah I can use a push trolley, but they don't always go all the way out to the car park. And even if they do, how am I supposed to lift them into the trunk and get them out again? Do I look like Superman? So it's great to see DARPA producing technology with civilian applications, and just in time for Xmas! But I want it smaller, with speed stripes and a spoiler, so back to the drawing board I am afraid. But perhaps these civilian versions can pave the way for a later military version? America will be grateful. signed, Grateful taxpayer.
Boston Dynamics has been working on this (and posting YouTube videos) for years. That this exists isn't news. That it is finally deployed, OK, a little newsy, but nobody that follows robotics is unaware of Big Dog.
BTW -- here is a hilarious spoof video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXI4WWhPn-U
but search for 'big dog' and watch some of the real ones first. Then the spoof - it's a crack up.
The competing agency FARPA is developing competitor to the LS3 technology. The name for this project is the Military Utility Logistics Engine. The stats are about the same except: .01% of LS3 technology.
MULE has a payload of only 200lbs
MULE is quieter
MULE is capable of in situ resource utilization simplifying logistics
MULE is capable of doubling as a food source.
MULE's per unit cost is
FARPA is also working on a more advanced project known as DONKEY, that will have self replicating abilities. Unfortunately this project is still in the early development stages.
When asked about the cost discrepancy between the $5,000,000,000 LS3 project vs the much more cost effective $500 MULE project, Congressmen Porkbarrel, R, MA replied: "I'm sorry I cant hear you over the sound of all this bribe money"
Here is a link to an early prototype of LS3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en-GB&gl=NZ&v=VXJZVZFRFJc
Cognition certainly is an inconvenient burden.
"Darpa figures that it's illogical to make a soldier hand over her rucksack to a robotic beast of burden if she's then got to be preoccupied with 'joysticks and computer screens' to guide it forward." (Emphasis mine.)
I know that people love sounding politically correct by arbitrarily changing "he" to "she," but in this particular case, it's not only silly but probably wrong. We've been hearing a fair amount lately about how female soldiers aren't allowed in designated combat zones, such as in this piece http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=166303415 In other words, "she" is statistically unlikely compared to "he," here.
It's a funny time when we start to trade in /actual/ correctness for political correctness.
These new-fangled cars will never catch on. I could just ride my horse where I need to go.
Donkeys have problems. They need constant food and water (who's going to carry that?) Donkeys need veterinary care. Donkeys freak out if anyone fires a weapon nearby (guns are really loud, in case you didn't know...and you probably don't). Donkeys are intentionally targeted by the enemy and must be protected. This robot has all the advantages of the Terminator. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until the batteries run out.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It's the size of a horse, not as agile as a horse, not as intelligent as a horse, and about a million times more noisy then a horse.
/cue "interesting factoid thinking about that made me look up: (The world record is some 160km in about 6 and a half hours)"
Donkey's can be frightened pretty easy yes, Horses if they're not trained, but War-Horses can handle extreme battle conditions pretty well.
Food vs. Batteries is a pretty even trade off. The robot is screwed if an EMP goes off, Horses are going to starve if there isn't any grass. A horse can beat 20miles in a day.
The only really good reason I can think of is packing. You could probably stick this on the back of a Humvee, which isn't really possible with a horse.
Special Forces units have received training in handling horses and donkeys, because they turned out to be utterly necessary in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But Army or marine units do not have the same level of autonomy as the Special Forces, which means the military would rather give them a technical solution than a living and breathing one.
Or, you can just use your special forces folks to train the grunts on horse and donkey handling. Somebody is going to have to be trained to use (and fix) robo mule.
More importantly, it's hard to round up enough local donkeys/horses for a large number of soldiers and you certainly can't airdrop them from a plane.
You BREED animals - that's how you make more of them. Happens pretty naturally. And you can do it in remarkably low tech circumstances. Instead of a complex of expensive buildings full of highly paid people, you can use a farm.
And animals of all sorts have been air dropped.
ASFAIK, The US Military no longer has any stables for training soldiers in handling horses or donkeys
We still have farms, fields and oats. That, along with some vets and a couple of privates, is all that you really need.
Horses for courses.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
It has several advantages-- gasoline is more energy dense than the food you'd have to carry for a mule, it doesn't get tired, no animal rights issues that would surely result from bringing a mule into a combat zone, and I'm not sure how much your average mule can carry but I don't think it's 400 lbs. The biggest thing is that it's a basis to be improved upon. The next model will be lighter, more reliable, quieter, have more capacity, etc. Give it a few years and I wouldn't be surprised to see civilian applications as well.
This robot has all the advantages of the Terminator. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until the batteries run out.
It can be hacked. It will be hacked. We all know that. It's going to happen with the drones first. Whether it's the Iranians, some Russians in Iraq or Chinese in North Korea, it's just a matter of time.
What all you nay-sayers forget is that this is only the very beginning of (debatable) usefulness. What comes out of this research over the next 10, 30 or 50 years, however, may prove surprising, and not just for how far this "mule" has come, but what other technologies it throws off along the way.
--Udo.
Boston Dynamics made Big Dog a few years ago...probably the same thing with a different name (e.g. Boston Dynamics worked on it for DARPA) but it's pretty cool. I especially like the video where it's slipping on ice but never falls. http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_bigdog.html
I'd say the biggest advantage is that this one listens to your commands. Normal mules are well-known for doing anything -but- listen.
Those legs work in more situations than wheels do.