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Video: New US Military Robot Hops Over Walls

Submitted by Michael Nystrom on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 09:10
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How would you like this thing coming after you?

Most of the time, the shoebox-sized robot - which is being developed for the US military - uses its four wheels to get around.

But the Precision Urban Hopper can use a piston-actuated "leg" to launch it over obstacles such as walls or fences.

The robot could boost the capabilities of troops and special forces engaged in urban warfare, say researchers.

The programme is being funded by Darpa, the US military's research arm.

Video & complete article here...

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OMG!

Submitted by ajwyoming on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 10:13.

Man, I am cracking up like a evil madman. This is hilarious and deeply disturbing. It's a remarkable testimony to the genius of mother nature. It's insane.

Can you imagine weaponizing this and giving the controls to baby-Bubba, your local hometown redneck who just joined the Marines?

people, people, people

Submitted by ajwyoming on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 09:51.

On an evolutionary scale, it's interesting to note what happens to us physically as our cleverly designed tools become more and more powerful.

Got fire to cook food? Well then, the body can invest less energy in developing a robust digestive system. You can see that in our neotenous teeth and in our vestigial appendices. (Our teeth are really small, like a child's, and our vermiform appendix is underdeveloped and currently useless.)

As we use technology, the selective pressure to genetically improve our physical traits diminishes.

Do the geniuses who come up with these robots have a reproductive advantage? Hardly. So there's no reason to predict that the direction of our evolution will lean towards more and more cleverness.

It's easier these days to imagine speciation events for people going in multiple directions, like a bush (not like a ladder of progress). Just take your typical highschool clicks and extend the metaphor to populations...the jocks, the geeks, the losers, the student council.

You get the picture.

(If 10-15% of the US population is unemployed, does that mean 10-15% of the population is extraneous?)

copy jefferson

Submitted by ajwyoming on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 10:17.

will you comply?

If it's made by DARPA

Submitted by Jefferson on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 09:34.

It's got to be chock full of good stuff.
8)

I don't see this carrying anything other than a small surveillance camera. It has got to be able to land on its top or bottom. ( I think)

Hopefully a 12 gauge shotty would take care of it.

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I wonder how well it would

Submitted by mikiloe on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 09:23.

I wonder how well it would perform when carrying a weapon. To me it didn't look like it even landed right side up.

To me, the freakiest robot is the Big Dog. I can imagine this thing stalking around with a .50 cal machine gun on it's back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHJJQ0zNNOM

profoundly awesome

Submitted by ajwyoming on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 10:04.

This big dog is profoundly awesome. Wow. WOW!

It's recoverability is just astonishing.

Okay, in the war of machine versus man, who's got the advantage now? Who's got the advantage in 50 years?

I think we're starting to go up to that part of the mathematical curve where the machines get the advantage rapidly, like the difference between human beings and chimpanzees. We don't even regard the chimpanzees as competition anymore, the difference is so big. Science fiction, here we come (or there we go?).

I think with this thing,

Submitted by Michael Nystrom on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 09:28.

I think with this thing, both sides up are right side up.

No doubt that Big Dog is freakin' scary. I'm sure they could find some way to weaponize that little guy though. If they make them cheap enough, they could just turn the whole thing into a bomb. Have it drive into some building, and then blow itself up. Anyway, they don't even have to make it cheap - when has the military worried about cost control?