Local10.com - News - Air Force Testing Robot Vehicles To Protect Bases, Forward Units:
"The vehicles being tested cost from $200,000 to $500,000.
The most expensive is the Jeep-size, four-wheeled Mobile Detection and Response System. MDARS also has drawn interest from other services and is expected to go into production next year, said Walter Waltz, chief of robotic research for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Tyndall.
MDARS is equipped with radar, television cameras and infrared to detect people, vehicles and other objects. It carries a breadbox-sized, tracked mini-robot called Matilda that can be launched to search under vehicles, inside buildings and other relatively small places.
Scout is similar to MDARS but fashioned from an off-the-shelf, four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle, giving it added versility because a human can ride it like a normal ATV when not being used as a robot. It also can carry a small tracked robot called Pacbot.
MDARS and Scout can be equipped with remotely fired weapons. An M-16 rifle and pepper sprayer are mounted on the Scout being tested here.
'We're taking the warfighter out of the direct line of attack,' said Capt. Adolfo Meana Jr., chief of the concepts division for the Force Protection Battlelab at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
'What we are hoping is the robots will actually detect the enemy first, will receive any of the initial hostile acts,' Meana said. 'If you shoot the robot we don't care. We know you're there, you're hostile, and we can keep our forces in reserve to move tactically against the enemy. The robots will save our troops' lives.'
The vehicles can be programmed to patrol specific areas on their own and then alert an operator by radio if they come across something suspicious. The machines then can be remotely operated from laptop computers to identify, detain or attack intruders.
A human always is in the loop because the military doesn't want to get into a 'Robocop scenario' that gives machines complete discretion, Waltz said.
The vehicles have loudspeakers and microphones for challenging and questioning suspected intruders. A Phraselator enables the operator to select from a variety of languages."
"The vehicles being tested cost from $200,000 to $500,000.
The most expensive is the Jeep-size, four-wheeled Mobile Detection and Response System. MDARS also has drawn interest from other services and is expected to go into production next year, said Walter Waltz, chief of robotic research for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Tyndall.
MDARS is equipped with radar, television cameras and infrared to detect people, vehicles and other objects. It carries a breadbox-sized, tracked mini-robot called Matilda that can be launched to search under vehicles, inside buildings and other relatively small places.
Scout is similar to MDARS but fashioned from an off-the-shelf, four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle, giving it added versility because a human can ride it like a normal ATV when not being used as a robot. It also can carry a small tracked robot called Pacbot.
MDARS and Scout can be equipped with remotely fired weapons. An M-16 rifle and pepper sprayer are mounted on the Scout being tested here.
'We're taking the warfighter out of the direct line of attack,' said Capt. Adolfo Meana Jr., chief of the concepts division for the Force Protection Battlelab at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
'What we are hoping is the robots will actually detect the enemy first, will receive any of the initial hostile acts,' Meana said. 'If you shoot the robot we don't care. We know you're there, you're hostile, and we can keep our forces in reserve to move tactically against the enemy. The robots will save our troops' lives.'
The vehicles can be programmed to patrol specific areas on their own and then alert an operator by radio if they come across something suspicious. The machines then can be remotely operated from laptop computers to identify, detain or attack intruders.
A human always is in the loop because the military doesn't want to get into a 'Robocop scenario' that gives machines complete discretion, Waltz said.
The vehicles have loudspeakers and microphones for challenging and questioning suspected intruders. A Phraselator enables the operator to select from a variety of languages."
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