DARPA has been hosting a Robotics Challenge since last year that challenged some participants to create robots that can be used in the real world. The official name for the Valkyrie robot given to it by NASA is R5. The bot stands 1.9 meters tall and weighs in at 125 kilograms. The robot has 44 […]
Let’s be honest: Most robots look pretty dumb these days. Whether it’s the little disk-shaped Roomba that cleans your floor or the jumble of rods and wires that builds your car, these machines seem—for lack of a better term—rudimentary. Not the Valkyrie.
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There’s no way ’round the fact that scanning millions of lines of software code for vulnerabilities is a chore. But now DARPA is keen to get volunteers helping out—by turning it into a game.
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As nations around the world launch more and more satellites into geosynchronous orbit above the Earth, the danger of them accidentally colliding and creating a Gravity-esque cascade of destruction increases exponentially. To keep tabs on everything zooming around 22,000 miles above the surface, DARPA’s developed this keen-eyed space surveillance telescope.
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For all the futuristic advancements packed into modern space-based telescopes, they all still rely on the same bulky, heavy glass optics that Galileo used centuries ago. But thanks to this DARPA project, future telescopes could eventually use optics as thin as saran wrap to peer into deep space.
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DARPA, which caught widespread attention when its Cheetah-based Wild Cat robot went viral, has announced that a total of seventeen teams have qualified for the DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials. With this latest statement, four additional teams have built complete robotic systems, joining thirteen existing teams later this month to have their robots tested at the […]
Creating a humanoid robot that can walk over all kinds of junk, like a parent traversing a child’s LEGO explosion of a room, is no easy task. The idea is the same for both the parent and the robot. No matter what you step on, stay upright.
So check out this video of The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s Atlas humanoid robot trying to navigate a bunch of wood and rope, because researchers didn’t clean their room. Naturally, the robot struggles to stay upright. Damn kids! But don’t worry, it was wearing a safety harness, which kept it from breaking a hip.
The video is fascinating and kinda funny as the robot takes its nervous steps and eventually loses it. At least robots don’t feel pain. Yet.
[via I Programmer via Geekologie]
ATLAS
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Laser pods mounted on drones to shoot down missiles. Yeah, that’s science fiction warfare, right there. And that’s exactly what the US military wants. The US just gave Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman contracts to develop aircraft-mounted laser weapons to protect drones from getting hit by missiles. Or create a flock of drones that can form a shield with lasers.
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Picture this: In the near future, ten percent of our veterans could be walking around with chips implanted in their brains. These aren’t intended for some I, Robot-style takeover, but rather to treat conditions like PTSD and substance abuse. Sound crazy? DARPA only deals in crazy
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