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.'"

Comments

One you forgot

[SuperKendall]

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.

Re:One you forgot

[ultranova]

But, the key is that if there was a need for LS3, then the US would already be using pack animals. They aren't, so there probably isn't.

Don't think of it as a robotized donkey, think of it as a jeep that can move in really rought terrain. Also, there's obvious future benefits to supporting this kind of thing, since walking is far superior to wheels anywhere except roads - and nothing stops you from attaching wheels on the bottoms of a walking robot's feet.

Just imagine it: a two-ton walking, climbing, rollerblading autonomous spider tank armed with lasers, capable of dodging rockets, never sleeping, never resting, tirelessly prowling the night looking for its intended targets... And just to go that extra mile, we could equip it with a glucose-burning fuel cell and have it suck its victims dry with its titanium mandibles. And if you do get a lucky hit, the thing will release a horde of flying robotized killer bees that attack everything in sight.

The possibilities are endless.

Well done DARPA!

[CuteSteveJobs]

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.

So the Big Dog is deployed...

[dbc]

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.

M.U.L.E.

[Jookey]

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:
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 .01% of LS3 technology.

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

Politically Correct is Incorrect in Summary

[estitabarnak]

"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.

Re:Impractical

[Ryanrule]

These new-fangled cars will never catch on. I could just ride my horse where I need to go.

Re:Random questions

[Ginger_Chris]

1. Yes, you start with at least two donkeys of opposite sex...
2. Depends on how much you like donkeys.
3. Yes, but it would be a tad mean.

Re:A Jingoistic Sentiment

[Simon Brooke]

Many of the the superstitious, ill-educated tribesmen that U.S. ground troops regularly encounter already think the Americans are witches.

Given that the US is about the most superstitious, ill-educated nation on the face of the Earth, that's a bit ripe. But then, of course, you famously don't do irony.

Re:Beast of burden

[plaukas pyragely]

I know it's pricey and not perfect, but some cons of a mule compared to this machine:

• You can't chuck a mule into storage to wait until it's required
• You can't ship a mule in a, say, container
• You can't (at least easily) airdrop a mule
• You can't temporary hide a mule for couple days in a forest or under snow
• You cannot remotely controll a mule
• Mules might have difficulties in staying calm when bullets and bombs start flying arround
• In case of injury the whole mule must be replaced, no spares

Disclaimer: neither military, nor mule specialist ... Based on very general understandment about military

Re:Beast of burden

[dywolf]

Not bullets. The real reason is two fold:
-animals get tired
-animals get scared

robots do neither.