Oct 25
Say hello to Pet-Proto. Manufactured by Boston Dynamics, which makes robot versions of everything from fleas to horses, it’s a humanoid robot that can run, jump and climb over objects—probably a damn site better than you’re able. More »
Sep 20
DARPA threat detection technology uses a camera to see targets, software and soldier brains to identify them
Posted in: Today's Chili 
DARPA aids our military in myriad ways, from designing one shot, one kill weapons to creating robotic pack mules to carry soldiers’ gear. It’s also been building tools for soldiers to better survey their environment and identify threats, and its latest such tool is called the Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS). CT2WS is comprised of a 120-megapixel electro-optical video camera with a 120-degree field of view feeding a laptop running cognitive visual processing algorithms. Those algorithms identify potential targets in the video feed, which are shown to a soldier wearing an EEG cap that monitors brain signals. You see, the human brain is particularly good at perceiving threats, and CT2WS looks for the particular brain wave that occurs when we see one. The human component drastically improves the accuracy with which the system can identify enemies from afar. How accurate? Testing in desert, tropical and open terrain showed that without a solider/EEG filter, the system had 810 false alarms out of 2,304 threat events in an hour. Incorporating the filter resulted in only five false alarms per hour, plus it was able to identify 91 percent of the potential targets successfully. Not good enough, you say? Add commercial radar into the mix and the army becomes omniscient — the system then identified 100 percent of the test targets.
Filed under: Misc
DARPA threat detection technology uses a camera to see targets, software and soldier brains to identify them originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sep 13
So we recently saw Boston Dynamics updated Cheetah robot which is now capable of outrunning humans, and now we have video of the latest improvements to their DARPA funded Alpha Dog robot. Alpha Dog is slower than Cheetah because it is built for different tasks. For one thing, it will carry a soldier’s load on just about any difficult terrain.
The latest updates to the robotic mule include reducing the noise it produces to just 10% of past models. It’s still not quiet at all, really, but it’s an improvement. It won’t be doing anything stealthy any time soon.
The robots are designed to work as a sort of mechanical herd, so they have improved their ability to work together. Now the herd will follow in the designated leader’s footsteps better than ever. In the words of just about every Doctor from Doctor Who… “run!”
[via Geekosystem]
Sep 11
Boston Dynamics shows a quieter, more thoroughbred AlphaDog to DARPA and the Marines (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
When we last saw Boston Dynamics’ AlphaDog (aka LS3), it was strutting through outdoor trials with the subtlety of a nuclear missile: for all that noise, it might as well have been holding a “shoot here please” sign broadcasting American soldiers’ positions to everyone in the forest. Several months later, the company is showing both DARPA and the Marine Corps a refined version of its load-carrying robot that has clearly been through a few rounds of obedience school. While we still wouldn’t call the four-legged hauler stealthy, it’s quiet enough to avoid the role of bullet magnet and lets nearby troops chat at reasonable volumes. And yes, there’s new tricks as well. AlphaDog can speed up its travel over difficult surfaces and move at up to a 5MPH jog, all while it’s following a human squad. DARPA and the Marines recently began testing and improving the robot over a two-year period that should culminate in an Advanced Warfighting Experiment with the Marines to test viability under stress. If AlphaDog passes that bar, there’s a good chance many on-foot soldiers will have a mechanical companion — and quite a weight lifted off of their shoulders.
Filed under: Robots
Boston Dynamics shows a quieter, more thoroughbred AlphaDog to DARPA and the Marines (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 14:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 10
What you see above is definitely not new, but it shows off other capabilities of the upcoming DARPA Legged Squad Support System (LS3) that we have not been privy to before. The ultimate goal of the LS3 program is to demonstrate the usefulness of a legged robot which is capable of helping squad members carry their gear, following them autonomously through rugged terrain without missing a beat. Heck, the LS3 is also said to be able to interpret verbal and visual commands, and you can be sure that it will follow orders unquestioningly. I would assume that there might be the possibility of a remote controlled option just in case the situation does not make it possible for you to perform hand signals or shout out a command. I am sure the troops on the ground will be more than pleased to see the DARPA Legged Squad Support System (LS3) being operational soon, considering the amount of gear that they have to tote around is no laughing matter. [Press Release]
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: DARPA’s Sea Shadow stealth ship on sale from $50,000 onwards, Cheetah robot achieves new land speed record,
Sep 06
Boston Dynamics’ Cheetah robot will hunt you down faster than any person (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Let’s face it, we’re doomed as a species, because one day, Boston Dynamics is gonna unleash its army of DARPA-funded droids and wipe us all out. The company’s sprinting robot, Cheetah, has now broken the land-speed record for humans, clocking speeds of 29.3 miles per hour, meaning not even the 27.79mph Usain Bolt can escape. Fortunately for us, it’s got a fatal flaw; a balance problem that means it can only remain upright with a boom keeping it steady. Unfortunately, that’s not going to be a problem for long, since field-testing on an independently upright version begins early next year. We’d wish you sweet dreams, but, you know, we’re too busy building an underground shelter.
Continue reading Boston Dynamics’ Cheetah robot will hunt you down faster than any person (video)
Filed under: Robots
Boston Dynamics’ Cheetah robot will hunt you down faster than any person (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 06
The gang over at DARPA likes to work on some really wild projects from time to time. The part that impresses me the most about some of the wild projects DARPA works on or funds is that the researchers actually get many of them to work. One of the things that DARPA has been pushing hard on is robotics in an attempt to design robots for the military and other applications.
One robot design that DARPA has been funding is called the Cheetah and it’s a robot that might eventually be used to carry gear into combat. Cheetah is a four-legged robot designed to mimic the real animal in how it moves. Cheetah isn’t as fast as its namesake mammal, but it’s getting closer.
The cheetah robot has now set a record by running 28.3 mph. What that means is should the cheetah robot ever decide to take over the world, you won’t be able to outrun it. In fact, the fastest runner on Earth, sprinter Usain Bolt, wouldn’t even be able to outrun Cheetah.
Bolt has been able to hit a top speed briefly of 27.78 mph making it a close race, but Cheetah would win. When the robot apocalypse comes, take solace in the fact that you don’t necessarily have to outrun Cheetah, just be willing to trip the person next to you. Cheetah’s record for all-out speed previously was only 18 mph. It’s also worth noting that Cheetah set its speed record running on treadmill with no drag and requires power supply that is external and not carried by the robot.
[via Wired]
DARPA Cheetah robot runs 28.3 mph: There is no escape is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Sep 05
The “fastest man on the planet” might be Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, but this does not mean he is capable of outrunning a cheetah – far from it, and not only that, DARPA’s cheetah robot (which we saw earlier in the year) is also faster than the epitome of human speed on a pair of legs at this point in time.
The cheetah robot is the brainchild of Boston Dynamics, where it hits a top speed of 28.3 miles per hour, which is a wee bit faster compared to Usain Bolt’s peak of 27.78 miles per hour in his world record breaking run three years ago. Granted, the cheetah robot has a “slight advantage” as admitted by DARPA thanks to it running on a treadmill instead of a real track. I suppose that it is only a matter of time and eventuality that the cheetah robot will outrun Usain Bolt with all the improvements that DARPA’s scientists and engineers are concocted behind closed doors.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sandia robotic hand to disarm explosives, Robot sewing machines in the US might result in cheaper clothes,
Sep 05
Cheetah Robot Can Outrun Usain Bolt
Posted in: Today's ChiliRemember the Cheetah robot, developed by Boston Dynamics for DARPA? It wasn’t long ago that the robot hit a top speed of 18mph, which seemed insanely fast for a hunk of metal with four legs. Now the quadruped ‘bot has smashed its own record, running faster than the world’s fastest man.
DARPA just posted video footage of Cheetah running at a top speed of 28.3mph for a 20-meter split, which is actually faster than Usain Bolt’s record time of 27.78mph. Granted, Cheetah was running on a treadmill, but I still wouldn’t ever want this thing chasing me down the street. There’s no way you or I could escape its hurtling mass. Check out Cheetah as it breaks its own land-speed record in the video clip below:
Just don’t ever give Cheetah any sort of stabby weapons, or else we’ll all be done for.
[via DARPA]
Sep 04
DARPA, the Pentagon’s technology research arm is looking at an unlikely source – the gaming community at large, to enlist their help in finding a cure for a blood infection which makes short work of troops in battlefield hospitals each year. The disease is known as sepsis, which is actually a blood infection that ends up as fatal whenever a patient enters into septic shock as the body tries its darndest best to stave off the infection. Septic shock normally happens after suffering from a massive trauma such as losing an appendage like a hand or leg to a bomb.
The game and online community at Foldit, a DARPA-funded website, has been asked to help find a cure for sepsis. The Foldit community has been asked to “play around” with protein designs in a massive brainstorming session in order to come up with new protein designs that could possible attack the ones that are the main cause of sepsis. DARPA hopes to stumble upon a “protein-based pathogen capture reagents to be used for the removal of circulating pathogens patients’ blood as part of a larger [dialysis-like therapeutic] system.”
Will this effort see success? Perhaps – and as long as someone tries, there is always hope at the end of the tunnel, no matter how bleak the outlook might be.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: 50-gigapixel camera part of DARPA’s AWARE program, Sandia robotic hand to disarm explosives,
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