# Just Plain Robots... coming soon to a battlefield near you.



## Kirkhill (3 Dec 2004)

http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=6613

This is more on the story about weapons on the EOD crawler.  Complete with pictures.

Mounts M16, M249, M240, HMG or 4 barrel 66mm rocket launcher.

To be deployed with the Stryker Brigade next year.


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## Kirkhill (6 Dec 2004)

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996573

And then there is this one......

It takes 25,000 Rat Brain Cells in a Petri Dish to Fly an F22.

What does that do for job security for Zoomie and Inch, let alone the need for the man in the turret in a DFSV? ;D :dontpanic:


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## GENOMS Soilder (20 Jan 2005)

Doesn't seem to be all that. That Crawler looks like a hobby robot, the kind you see on that TV show 'Robot Wars'.
But I would want to see some specs before I make any more comments.
And don't get me wrong about this idea. I find this kind of stuff interesting. 
But it will never remove the solider.


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## chrisf (21 Jan 2005)

You know, I don't think the way to look at this is as a replacement for the soldier, rather, as a tool for soldiers... a new self-propelled weapons platform... mount a .50 cal on top of it, and give it to a light infantry platoon... the weapon can be fired remotely, so the weapon can be exposed, while the troops are under covered....

Further, makes a good recce platform for high risk areas... the robot goes around a corner, relays images back to the troops...

Looks like the robot in the picture has some variation of the mnimi mounted on it, not the M16 that the article claims ((Note particularly the gas-selector, and the barrel change handle)...I would think that if possible, it would also be wise to engineer it such that any weapon mounted on the platform is removable and usable by the troops in the event that the robot fails...


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## Kirkhill (23 Jan 2005)

Sig Op:

Seems you have it right.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4199935.stm



> 'Robot soldiers' bound for Iraq
> 
> Soldering on: A private firm helped the military make the robo-soldier
> The US military is planning to deploy robots armed with machine-guns to wage war against insurgents in Iraq.
> ...



OK, lets see now.

LAV with crew of 3.  Driver, Commander, Wpns Op.   Observation Array and 2 SWORD robots (attach weapons to suit) -  Operate in support of infantry in urban setting (taking on another role of the MBT)  or Operate in Recce setting - mixed troop with 8 Vehicles (4 of these, a pair of Coyotes and a pair of LAVs with 8-16 dismounts)  Maybe add a pair of LAVs with Gill-Spike ER -

For those of you paying attention, I just read the article on the Spike in the current CDQ.  If the Spike is all that it is cracked up to be in the article I can actually see the merits of the Spike over the Javelin.  Particularly the ability to see the target from the missile and use it as a recce tool as well as an offensive tool - fire and forget OR update in flight according to real time info.  Meanwhile the Spike (2000m) Spike-LR (4000m) Spike-ER (8000m) results in commonality of training and parts.

I am a fickle b****r at times.


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## jmackenzie_15 (23 Jan 2005)

uhmmm.... I may be overreacting but, does anyone else remember the movie terminator?  :-\

Is it such a far fetched idea that eventually; inevitably, our creations and machines will become smarter than we are?


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## youravatar (23 Jan 2005)

jmackenzie_15 said:
			
		

> uhmmm.... I may be overreacting but, does anyone else remember the movie terminator?   :-\
> 
> Is it such a far fetched idea that eventually; inevitably, our creations and machines will become smarter than we are?



amen to that


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## goodform (23 Jan 2005)

and how well does it handle IAs and stoppages?


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## jmackenzie_15 (23 Jan 2005)

I am very very strongly opposed to inventing machines to think and work for us.
On one hand, its incredibly lazy, and as a people, humans get lazier and lazier and lazier as time goes on.
On the other hand, it would eventually be our demise.

It is not our enemies abroad whom we should fear, but ourselves....


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## mainerjohnthomas (23 Jan 2005)

I like it.
Why expose an infantryman to fire as point man, when a robot can do the job better, not only to draw fire, but provide better tactical data for return/suppressive fire.  This isn't a tool to replace a soldier, this is a tool to augment a mechanized infantry platoon.  Drones have been used for years for aerial recon, now they come to ground warfare, with the additional benefit of acting as a weapons platform, excellent for support weapons.


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## jmackenzie_15 (23 Jan 2005)

It all has to start somewhere doesn't it.


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## Kirkhill (23 Jan 2005)

One other advantage that I think I see is the impact of a steady platform on accuracy and thus the ability to be effective at increased standoff ranges.

Consider a C6 mounted on an SF tripod, with a CLASS type sighting system and no hard-breathing gunner leaning on the weapon.  The gunner is forced to take more time to line up the cross-hairs but the CLASS predicts fall of shot and updates point-of-aim.  At that point is it not unreasonable to suggest that the C6 will be extremely effective at its maximum range (1800m), or at least moreso.  How difficult will it be for the enemy target to detect the point of origin of the fire given the size of the platform and the range?  Also how difficult will it be for the unit to be countered given difficulty to detect, ability to move and relocate even under fire, especially when the gunner is located up to half a mile from the weapon.

Other weapons that might be mounted on such a system? Could they not include the Barret 50,  2-4 70mm rockets (new variants have guidance systems), ALAWS.....? Virtually anything that is man-portable.

As to stoppages, that is a valid concern.  In fact that is one of the reasons that MGs and other systems were always "sighted in pairs".  "The Rise of the Emma Gees."  But the trade off is against a man in the open, seriously concerned about his personal well-being while trying to do his job and protect his mates.


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## Kirkhill (25 Jan 2005)

More robots....

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.4308111.1089903978.QPadasOa9dUAAESlMZk&modele=jdc_34


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## Kirkhill (11 Feb 2005)

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.4308111.1089903978.QPadasOa9dUAAESlMZk&modele=jdc_34

More on TUGVs - Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicles - not robots but Tele-operated by troops.

Contract awarded to develop and produce.

Congressional intent to have 1/3 of Ground Vehicles "UNMANNED"  by 2015.


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## Kirkhill (20 Feb 2005)

More on robots - maybe not so plain


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,1-1491543,00.html


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## Kirkhill (12 Sep 2005)

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.4308111.1089903978.QPadasOa9dUAAESlMZk&modele=jdc_34

Large order placed for Talon "robots" by US forces.  These are NOT thinking robots.  They are remote controlled robots.



> Foster-Miller Awarded $96 Million Contract for Additional TALON Robots
> 
> 
> (Source: Foster-Miller, Inc.; issued Sept. 9, 2005)
> ...


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## Kirkhill (15 Sep 2005)

Dismountable Remote Weapons System in a Pick-Up Truck

This system has been married with the Thales Remote Weapons System.
It also looks like the wheeled variant has been accepted over the tracked version.


Military machine: Defense robot developed at CMU makes its debut
Friday, August 05, 2005

By Corilyn Shropshire, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It could have been the Iraqi desert with the burning sun and dusty blue sky. 

  
 V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette
The "Gladiator," an unmanned remote-controlled vehicle, makes its way over a dirt obstacle yesterday as a crowd observes. Carnegie Mellon and BAE Systems held a public demonstration of the robot, developed for the Marine Corps.
Click photo for larger image.



But instead of sand, it was a tidy asphalt surface in Uniontown yesterday, where a military-green robot resembling a large all-terrain vehicle climbed and tumbled over makeshift stacks of wood planks and piles of stone-filled dirt, preening before a crowd uttering "ohs" and "ahs". 

Known as the Gladiator Tactical Unmanned Ground Vehicle (TUGV), the six-wheeled combat robot spun around in circles displaying its strength and durability at what could have been its coming-out party-- the first public demonstration of the prototype designed and developed at Carnegie Mellon University and set to be built and manufactured at BAE Systems' Ground Vehicle Unit plant in Fayette County. 

In February, CMU beat out defense giant Lockheed Martin for a $26.4 million Defense Department contract to produce a line of six Gladiator TUGV prototypes. 

The goal is to build big remote-controlled reconnaissance robots capable of carrying out search-and-discovery missions in potentially hostile areas, to warn soldiers of the dangers ahead, and to protect them from mine fields, craters, trenches, hidden enemies or even greater threats such as chemical, biological or nuclear traps. 

Eventually, the military hopes to arm the remote-controlled TUGVs with machine guns and other weapons, giving them the capacity to destroy enemy targets.

  


V.W.H. Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette
Rep. John Murtha checks out the launchers on the "Gladiator" yesterday.
Click photo for larger image.







Marine Corps Col. Terry Griffin, the project manager for the Department of Defense Robotic Systems Joint Project Office, called the Gladiator "the future of war-fighting.

"Remote combat task is to accomplish the mission and save friendly lives," Griffen told a crowd of BAE employees, politicians, CMU researchers, staff and reporters on hand for yesterday's demonstration. "We're going to do that with the Gladiator."

Although the vehicle, weighing nearly 3 tons, is large enough for combat, it appears remarkably friendly, looking and acting like an oversized remote-controlled toy.

Designed to fit into a military Humvee for transport, the Gladiator will be driven remotely by a soldier using a Sony PlayStation-like joystick. The soldier will wear a special helmet fitted with an eyepiece that serves as a camera, allowing the soldier to see what the robot sees, even though it could be miles away. 

The latest Gladiator prototype has containers for hand grenades that can be used for clearing obstacles and creating a footpath on difficult terrain for soldiers following behind. It also features what looks like organ pipes to produce smoke, and it has a mount on top for a medium-size machine gun or multipurpose assault weapon.

The six prototypes, which will be tested under a variety of conditions before the Department of Defense orders up to 200 Gladiators, are the third stage of the robot's development process. A joint team of CMU researchers, consultants with military-experience and BAE engineers are now tweaking the Gladiator to a "bible-like" set of military requirements and expect to deliver the six prototypes to the Marine Corps by May 2007.

"The Marines are a tough customer. They have continually pushed them to make it easier to use," said Randy Bryant, dean of CMU's School of Computer Science. 

Researchers at CMU's Robotics Institute and the National Robotics Engineering Consortium have been developing and fine-tuning the Gladiator since 2002, when several research teams and defense contractors began competing to present the Department of Defense with a specialized robotic vehicle to venture into unknown territory on battlefields and deliver real-time pictures to soldiers.

CMU began working with BAE in the most recent phase of the project -- needing an experienced defense contractor to build and manufacture the Gladiator. 

Yesterday's demonstration was to showcase not just the the first unmanned ground vehicle used for reconnaissance, but also to highlight the region's economic-development success in winning a big military contract. 

"We wanted to show the public what we were doing," said BAE spokesman Herb Muktarian, who noted that most of the 150 employees in the company's Fayette County plant are not yet working on the Gladiator but refurbishing Bradley combat vehicles. 

Muktarian added that BAE is in "hiring mode," with plans to hire up to 50 more employees by the end of the year. The plant will start building the Gladiator prototypes sometime next year. 

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05217/548931.stm
http://www.thales-optronics.com/dos/products/land/details/swarm.shtml


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## Kirkhill (15 Sep 2005)

http://www.onr.navy.mil/fncs/auto_ops/docs/concept_of_employment.pdf

This is the US Marine Corps concept of how they might use their Gladiator TUGV.


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## winchable (15 Sep 2005)

At 200,000 a pop that doesn't seem like a bad price at all (I'm not being sarcastic) considering the advantage it could give as well as being the first rung on the ladder towards similar, better weapons/robots.


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## Kirkhill (16 Sep 2005)

Out flaming rageous  ;D


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## Kirkhill (16 Sep 2005)

I don't see why the Spinner couldn't be an "Inhabited" vehicle.  Add a 5-point harness to handle the roll-overs and keep heads below the hatch rim.


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## Kirkhill (4 Oct 2005)

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele.pl?session=dae.4308111.1089903978.QPadasOa9dUAAESlMZk&modele=jdc_34

Robot Bradley - detail on Future Armour


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