Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

DARPA Legged Squad Support System (LS3) Demonstrates New Capabilities

Published on Sep 10, 2012 by DARPAtv

This video depicts field testing of the DARPA Legged Squad Support System (LS3). The goal of the LS3 program is to demonstrate that a legged robot can unburden dismounted squad members by carrying their gear, autonomously following them through rugged terrain, and interpreting verbal and visual commands.

To learn more about LS3, please visit http://go.usa.gov/rwQB [ http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/TTO/Programs/Legged_Squad_Support_System_%28LS3%29.aspx ].

To get the latest DARPA news, photos and videos, follow us on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/darpa .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40gECrmuCaU [Boston Dynamics upload, including text "The Legged Squad Support System (LS3) is a rough-terrain robot developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA and the US Marine Corps. It is designed to carry 400 lbs of payload and travel 20 miles without refueling.", at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ezXBEBE6U ]


--


Sand Flea Jumping Robot

Published on Mar 27, 2012 by BostonDynamics

Sand Flea is an 11-lb robot with one trick up its sleeve: Normally it drives like an RC car, but when it needs to it can jump 30 feet into the air. An onboard stabilization system keeps it oriented during flight to improve the view from the video uplink and to control landings. Current development of Sand Flea is funded by the The US Army's Rapid Equipping Force. For more information visit http://www.BostonDynamics.com .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo


--


RHex Rough-Terrain Robot

Published on Mar 27, 2012 by BostonDynamics

RHex is a 30-lb robot designed for mobility on rough terrain. It is operated remotely via an RF link that includes a high-resolution video uplink. RHex can operate right-side-up or up-side down, as shown in the video, and goes for up to four hours on one charge of its batteries. RHex has been around for several years, but we redesigned this version for ruggedness, long battery life, maintainability, and improved mobility. This version of RHex was funded by the US Army's Rapid Equipping Force. For more information about RHex visit http://www.BostonDynamics.com .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISznqY3kESI


--


DARPA's Soft Robot: Now You See It, Now You Don't

Published on Aug 16, 2012 by DARPAtv

Harvard University researchers working under DARPA's Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program recently demonstrated the ability to manufacture low-cost silicone robots with microfluidic channels that allow for air and fluids to be pumped in to control movement, color and temperature.

In this video, a soft robot walks onto a bed of rocks and is filled with fluid to match the color of the rocks and break up the robot's shape. The robot moves at a speed of approximately 40 meters per hour; absent the colored fluid, it can move at approximately 67 meters per hour.

Future research will be directed at smoothing the movements; however, speed is less important than the robot's flexibility. Soft robots are useful because they are resilient and can maneuver through very constrained spaces.

For this demonstration, the researchers used tethers to attach the control system and to pump pressurized gases and liquids into the robot. Tethered operation reduces the size and weight of such robots by leaving power sources and pumps off-board, but future prototypes could incorporate that equipment in a self-contained system. At a pumping rate of 2.25 mL per minute, color change in the robot required 30 seconds. Once filled, the color layers require no power to sustain the color.

For additional information on DARPA's robotics programs, see: http://go.usa.gov/UEL [ http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Programs/Maximum_Mobility_and_Manipulation_(M3).aspx ].

This video has been sped up. The actual duration is 2m 27s.

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


--


Soft autonomous earthworm robot at MIT

Published on Aug 9, 2012 by MITNewsOffice

Earthworms creep along the ground by alternately squeezing and stretching muscles along the length of their bodies, inching forward with each wave of contractions. Snails and sea cucumbers also use this mechanism, called peristalsis, to get around, and our own gastrointestinal tracts operate by a similar action, squeezing muscles along the esophagus to push food to the stomach.

Now researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University have engineered a soft autonomous robot that moves via peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, much like an earthworm. The robot, made almost entirely of soft materials, is remarkably resilient: Even when stepped upon or bludgeoned with a hammer, the robot is able to inch away, unscathed.

Sangbae Kim, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, says such a soft robot may be useful for navigating rough terrain or squeezing through tight spaces.

Read more: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/autonomous-earthworm-robot-0810.html

Video: Melanie Gonick
Additional footage: Sangbae Kim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXkf62qGFII


--


Bipedal Cycling Robot Can Balance, Steer and Correct Itself

Uploaded by Diginfonews on Nov 11, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT3vfSQePcs


--


Roach Biobot

Published on Sep 5, 2012 by iBionicSLab

Roboroach steering with a remote control

Follow iBionicS Lab:
http://ibionics.ece.ncsu.edu/main.html#research_1 [ http://ibionics.ece.ncsu.edu/main.html#research ]
http://www.facebook.com/pages/IBionicS-Laboratory/347379548683812
https://twitter.com/ibionics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmbEX7zDzog [via "Remote-control tech turns cockroaches into beasts of burden", http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/remote-control-tech-turns-cockroaches-beasts-burden-985085 ]


--


The Air Force’s Bug-Eyed Plan for New Spy Gear


A close up of a bee’s all seeing eye
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/7584061676/ ]/Flickr

By Benjamin Plackett
September 7, 2012 | 1:16 pm

The Air Force wants its new spy sensors to work like a bee’s eye.

Here’s why: Most of the military’s optical sensors, which convert an image into an digital signal, are designed by drawing inspiration from human optics. This means that our machines have so far been largely limited to seeing only what we can see. The problem is, the human eye isn’t great. Even if you’re blessed with 20:20 vision, you miss a lot of stuff because our eyes can only detect a small proportion of the all the light waves that are actually bouncing off objects.

Superficially of course, our vision allows us to differentiate between colors, how close something is, and whether it’s coming towards us or away from us – but other animals can see much more [ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/spiders-3d-vision/ ].

If you were to dump an average human in the wilderness somewhere, he’d have practically no idea where in the world he was, if he were to rely on just his sight. But do the same to an arthropod, say a bee or a locust, and it would stand a much better chance at finding its way back to base. That’s because their optical systems can see one very important thing that we can’t: polarized light wave patterns.

The pattern of a polarized light wave is such that it indicates the location of where the light is coming from and the insect understands its own geo-location in relation to the polarized light’s origin. In this way, the insect has a built in, autonomous, and sophisticated way of navigating from point A to point B.

What if we could develop sensors that work more like a bee’s eye than a human one? Navigation systems would be autonomous, they wouldn’t need to beam their signal to second party and wait to be told where it was. It’d just know. In other words, they’d work fine by themselves – no loosing the sat nav signal when you’re car’s flanked by downtown skyscrapers or as you go through a tunnel.

Well, that’s exactly what the U.S. military wants to do. In the latest call [ http://www.dodsbir.net/solicitation/sttr12B/af12B.htm ] for research proposals from small business, the U.S. Air Force is asking for someone to develop “biologically-inspired integrated vision systems.”

In creating the next generation of imaging sensors, the Air Force hopes to improve the navigational capabilities, target detection and range of its military hardware. It’s looking to back a program to create an unified system where data is input, crunched, and used by the same computer to allow “autonomous behavior.” This would make the whole process of navigation altogether faster and more efficient and reduce the need for boots on the ground.

Insect vision also differs from ours in color differentiation, they’re able to detect broad-spectrum light waves, which means they can see colors that we can’t. When we see one shade of red, they might see several distinct shades. They’re altogether more skilled at discriminating where one object starts and another begins. This is something that the Air Force is also enthusiastic to include in the project, expressing interest in “camouflage-breaking techniques.”

Turning to the animal kingdom as a muse for technological design is nothing new [ http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/01/insect-media/ ]. All kinds of creatures have been used over the years. Unmanned vehicle control was learned from echolocating bats [ http://www.ndu.edu/CTNSP/docUploaded/BioInspiredInnovation.pdf ] and the micro hooks of seeds that stick to animal fur gave way to the inception of Velcro [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/02/9-incredible-technologies_n_342074.html?slidenumber=zIusa5UA4Wk%3D&slideshow ]. And then, of course, there are the robots modeled after pack mules and cheetahs [ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/09/darpa-robot-usain-bolt/ (and see the post to which this is a reply)] that can already outrun the faster human. If this Air Force project works out as planned, the machines will be able to see a whole lot better than people, too.

*

Related

Rogue Insect Takes Down Missile Truck
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/rogue-insect-takes-down-missile-transport-truck/

Video: Pentagon’s Cyborg Beetle Takes Flight
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/video-cyborg-beetle-takes-flight/

Pentagon Wants Cyborg Insects to Sniff WMD, Offer Free Wi-Fi
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/pentagon-wants-cyborg-insects-to-sniff-wmd-offer-wi-fi/

‘Star Wars’ Gurus Create Insect Death Beam
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/03/star-wars-gurus/

How To: Make a Robotic Insect
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/how-to-make-a-r/

*

Wired.com © 2012 Condé Nast

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/09/insect-eye/ [with comments]


--


BigDog Weaponized

Uploaded by BostonDynamics on Mar 12, 2009

BigDog ready for battle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptyV1cpE14o


--


(linked in):

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=44715115 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=56165667 and preceding and following;
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=60062232 and preceding (and any future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=66343804 and preceding and following;
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=66821945 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=67654837 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=69405769 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=78228145 and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=78443830 and preceding (and future following)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=78944571 (in particular the second group of items, from the second item "Comeback Nation: Why the U.S. Economy Is Much Stronger Than You Think" through "Tiny Factory Could Make Solar Panels Anywhere" and including the tie-ins included after that last-named item) and preceding and following

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79321520 and preceding and following