DARPA Search For Better Robots Continues

Wall Street Journal: The Robots Are Coming

Automatons from around the globe to compete in Darpa Robotics Challenge’s simulated disaster.

Do robots need passports? The Pentagon’s research arm will host two-legged automatons from five nations, including China, alongside homegrown offerings in a contest to test their capabilities helping out in a simulated disaster.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, on Thursday unveiled the 25 teams that will face off in June for a $2 million top prize, racing—very slowly—against the clock to perform tasks including driving a car, climbing a ladder and turning off a valve.

The Darpa Robotics Challenge is the latest in a series of contests designed to stimulate interest from companies and academia in developing cutting-edge technology, with previous events devoted to driverless vehicles and self-healing computers that can defend themselves against cyberattacks.

WNU Editor: Even China has decided to participate in this competition .... I guess this is one way for them to look at what the competition is doing.

The Russian Military 'Shows-Off' Its Cyborg Biker

Sam Frizell, Time: Watch the Russian Military Present Putin With a Cyborg Biker

WNU Editor: You gotta be kidding me .... a cyborg biker?!?!?!? But on a serious note .... Russia is developing and spending monies "big time" on developing robot platforms for it's military .... Russia Wants Autonomous Fighting Robots, and Lots of Them (Popular Mechanics)

More News On The Russian Military Version Of A 'Cyborg Biker'

Combat Robot-Avatar Revealed to Russian President Putin -- Sputnik
Russian Robot Warrior Drives In A Circle In Front Of Putin -- Kelsey D. Atherton, Popular Science
Russian President Vladimir Putin checks out military quad-riding robot -- The Next Web

Russia Is Investing Big On Land-Based Military Robots

Moscow Times: Russian Battle Robots Near Testing for Military Use

WNU Editor: Actually .... Russia has been trying to catch up on U.S. developments when it comes to robot tech with military applications. Below are some links to developments in Russia on "robot warfare".

More News On Russia's Land-Based Military Robot Program

Russian Terminator & Combat Robots (Video) -- Military.com
Russians Usher in New Era of Warfare with Battle Bots -- Free Republic
Russia Wants Autonomous Fighting Robots, and Lots of Them -- Popular Mechanics
Armed Russian robocops to defend missile bases -- New Scientist
Robots, drones to boost Russian 5th gen nuclear subs’ arsenal -- RT

Update: This is probably the ultimate land-based military robot/platform that Russia is trying to develop .... Russian T-95 main battle tank: could this combat vehicle be more formidable than we thought? (Military & Aerospace).

Is This The Future Of Battlefield Robotics?

Roboteam

This Could Be the Future of Battlefield Robotics -- Patrick Tucker, Defense One

The floor of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., was an obstacle course this week, as the Association of the United States Army convention brought together, among other defense contractors, various robot makers from around to demo their goods to military leaders and the curious.

Piloting systems were a big draw.

Despite the drawdown in Afghanistan and the end of the war in Iraq, the military still needs robotic systems to detect improvised explosive devices as well as provide tactical intelligence or to look around the next corner, so to speak.

In the up-and-coming category is a young Israeli firm called Roboteam, which markets a variety or robots, the coolest of which is the Micro Tactical Ground Robot, or MTGR. The two-year-old MTGR made some news last summer as Israeli Defense Forces deployed them to search out Hamas tunnels in Gaza.

Read more ....

My Comment: Robotic systems have proven their value to the military consistently in the past few years. I do not see this trend changing in the future.

What Is A 'Killer Robot'?

So What Exactly Is a 'Killer Robot'? -- Rose Eveleth, The Atlantic

Why so many groups are against them, but haven't agreed on what they are

For as long as we’ve been able to make robots, we’ve been worried about them killing us.

In 1942, Isaac Asimov published a short story called Runaround that both coined the term "robotics" and introduced the idea of robots killing humans. Last week, one company set out to assure people that it, too, was worried about this potential threat.

Clearpath Robotics announced that it would take a stand against killer robots. “To the people against killer robots: we support you,” the company’s press release reads.

Yes, the organized campaign against killer robots has gained momentum as the technology and militarization of robotics has advanced, and the smartest thing the movement has done is pick its name. “Killer robots” still isn’t a well-defined term, but it's clearly a winning one.

Read more ....

My Comment: Robots do not kill people .... people do.