5 Amazing Robots That Go To War
Comments(2) It is becoming increasingly common for countries to now deploy autonomous robotic solidiers to conduct their modern day wars. Today we take a look at 5 types of robots that are helping eliminate the need of a man for the act of war. Skynet can’t be too far away?
1. Robobug: The British defense and aerospace company BAE Systems have created small electronic insects, spiders and snakes that have the ability to enter places before combat soldiers and electronically report back what’s inside. BAE signed a multi-million dollar contract to develop the robots for the U.S. Army.
2. RoboDog: The US army is poised to unleash the dogs of war – four-legged, petrol-powered robots to help its troops in battle. Billed as ‘the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth’, BigDog has been devised to support American troops by carrying up to four packs of equipment on awkward terrain unsuitable for wheeled vehicles. Standing at over 2ft tall and more than 3ft long, BigDog comes equipped with all manner of high-tech gadgets, including laser gyroscopes, a video camera sensor system and a sophisticated on-board computer – but, sadly, no wagging tail.
3. The firebots: The bots - which were used to detonate bombs in Afghanistan - have been converted and are now being used to tackle dangerous fires across London. Defence company Qinetiq say the robots will protect fire fighters and minimise disruption to travellers by reducing delays on major transport systems. After assessing the risk, LFB officers can call out the team of robots some of which range from a small, stair-climbing unit which has video and thermal image cameras to ones with water hoses and giant claws on.
4. The Marathon robots: How do you make sniper target practice more helpful and more fun? By shooting at Segway robots, of course. To train its snipers in realistic conditions, the Australian Department of Defence enlisted the help of Marathon Robotics of Sydney, Australia, to set up a course populated by Segways with plastic, 3D, human-size dummies onboard.
5. Robot Swords: The army’s machine-gun wielding, insurgent-slaying robot SWORDS is no longer spraying foes with hot doom in Iraq. Actually, it never had the chance to notch a single frag, and never will. Apparently, there was an incident where “the gun started moving when it was not intended to move,” meaning it totally pointed somewhere it wasn’t supposed to—like at friendlies, which resulted in recall from the field and might’ve set the program back 10-20 years, according to the Army’s Program Executive Officer for Ground Forces, Kevin Fahey.
