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ROBO Soldier in Iraq?

a_majoor

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U.S. Army Prepares Armed 'Robo-Soldier' for Iraq
By Michael P. Regan January 25, 2005

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, New Jersey (AP) -- The rain is turning to snow on a blustery January morning, and all the men gathered in a parking lot here surely would prefer to be inside. But the weather couldn't matter less to the robotic sharpshooter they are here to watch as it splashes through puddles, the barrel of its machine gun pointing the way.

The Army is preparing to send 18 of these remote-controlled robotic warriors to fight in Iraq beginning in March or April.

Made by a small Massachusetts company, the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat, years ahead of the larger Future Combat System vehicles currently under development by big defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics Corp.

It's easy to humanize the SWORDS (a tendency robotics researchers say is only human) as it moves out of the flashy lobby of an office building and into the cold with nary a shiver.

Military officials like to compare the roughly 1-meter-high (3-foot-high) robots favorably to human soldiers: They don't need to be trained, fed or clothed. They can be boxed up and warehoused between wars. They never complain. And there are no letters to write home if they meet their demise in battle.
But officials are quick to point out that these are not the autonomous killer robots of science fiction. A SWORDS robot shoots only when its human operator presses a button after identifying a target on video shot by the robot's cameras.

"The only difference is that his weapon is not at his shoulder, it's up to half a mile (800 meters) away," said Bob Quinn, general manager of Talon robots for Foster-Miller Inc., the Waltham, Massachusetts, company that makes the SWORDS.

As one Marine fresh out of boot camp told Quinn upon seeing the robot: "This is my invisibility cloak."
Quinn said it was a "bootstrap development process" to convert a Talon robot, which has been in military service since 2000, from its main mission -- defusing roadside bombs in Iraq_ into the gunslinging SWORDS.

It was a joint development process between the Army and Foster-Miller, a robotics firm bought in November by QinetiQ Group PLC, which is a partnership between the British Ministry of Defence and the Washington holding company The Carlyle Group.

Army officials and employees of the robotics firm heard from soldiers "who said 'My brothers are being killed out here. We love the EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), but let's put some weapons on it,"' said Quinn.

Working with soldiers and engineers at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, it took just six months and only about $2 million (euro1.5 million) in development money to outfit a Talon with weapons, according to Quinn and Anthony Sebasto, a technology manager at Picatinny.

The Talon had already proven itself to be pretty rugged. One was blown off the roof of a Humvee and into a nearby river by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Soldiers simply opened its shrapnel-pocked control unit and drove the robot out of the river, according to Quinn.

The $200,000 (euro154,000), armed version will carry standard-issue Squad Automatic Weapons, either the M249, which fires 5.56-millimeter rounds at a rate of 750 per minute, or the M240, which can fire about 700 to 1,000 7.62-millimeter rounds per minute. The SWORDS can fire about 300 rounds using the M240 and about 350 rounds using the M249 before needing to reload.

All its optics equipment -- the four cameras, night vision and zoom lenses -- were already in the Army's inventory.

"It's important to stress that not everything has to be super high tech," said Sebasto. "You can integrate existing componentry and create a revolutionary capability."

The SWORDS in the parking lot at the headquarters of the cable news station CNBC had just finished showing off for the cameras, climbing stairs, scooting between cubicles, even broadcasting some of its video on the air.

Its developers say its tracks, like those on a tank, can overcome rock piles and barbed wire, though it needs a ride to travel faster than 6.5 kph (4 mph).

Running on lithium ion batteries, it can operate for one to four hours at a time, depending on the mission. Operators work the robot using a 13.5-kilogram (30-pound) control unit that has two joysticks, a handful of buttons and a video screen. Quinn says that may eventually be replaced by a "Gameboy" type of controller hooked up to virtual reality goggles.

The Army has been testing it over the past year at Picatinny and the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland to ensure it won't malfunction and can stand up to radio jammers and other countermeasures. (Sebasto wouldn't comment on what happens if the robot and its controller fall into enemy hands.)
Its developers say the SWORDS not only allows its operators to fire at enemies without exposing themselves to return fire, but also can make them more accurate.

A typical soldier who could hit a target the size of a basketball from 300 meters (yards) away could hit a target the size of a coin with the SWORDS, according Quinn.

The better accuracy stems largely from the fact that its gun is mounted on a stable platform and fired electronically, rather than by a soldier's hands, according to Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos of the EOD Technology Directorate at Picatinny. Gone are such issues as trigger recoil, anticipation problems, and pausing the breathing cycle while aiming a weapon.

"It eliminates the majority of shooting errors you would have," said Tordillos.
Chances are good the SWORDS will get even more deadly in the future. It has been tested with the larger .50 caliber machine guns as well as rocket and grenade launchers -- even an experimental weapon made by the Australian company Metal Storm LLC that packs multiple rocket rounds into a single barrel, allowing for much more rapid firing.

"We've fired 70 shots at Picatinny and we were 70 for 70 hitting the bull's-eye," said Sebasto, boasting of the arsenal's success with a rocket launcher from around the 1960s mounted on a SWORDS.

 
Two questions, Were can I buy one? And, how long before they completely take over the military, and the only people the army will need are fat, single, nerds living in mommys basement to control them?
 
As long as I live long enough to see the battle from Terminator 2 enacted in real life, I will be pleased.
 
After having a conversation with one of my friends, I believe we should take our cue from all the science fiction movies out there.  First, do NOT give robots weapons (oops, too late).  Second, NEVER EVER give them AI. Bad things always happen. I am now crossing my fingers, and hope we dont't hear things about "Skynet" any time soon.
 
Hatchet Man said:
After having a conversation with one of my friends, I believe we should take our cue from all the science fiction movies out there.   First, do NOT give robots weapons (oops, too late).   Second, NEVER EVER give them AI. Bad things always happen. I am now crossing my fingers, and hope we dont't hear things about "Skynet" any time soon.

I totally agree. I don't exactly want to see a HK pass by my window anytime soon.

But anyways, about the SWORD thing, anyone feel like this could lead the way to a Battlemech-type fighting robot? Obviously it would be very-long-term, but seeing they're starting to make robots capable of walking and running, and they're outfitting robots with guns, the link isn't too hard to make. Either Battlemechs or exoskelettons à la Starship Trooper, really.

Can I join the MI?
 
Here's a few ideas;

1) Dig a hole, and when it falls in, dump rocks on it or bash it with a shovel;

2) Wait till it drives by, then spray water (or gasoline) on it;

3) Wait till the battery runs out (esp in cold weather);

4) Shoot IT with a.50 cal HMG;

5) Electrocute it; or

6) Hang a big magnet from a streetlamp, then when Robo is hanging up there helplessly spinning its tracks and buzzing "Danger, danger!", shoot it, or just turn off the magnet and let it drop.


Seroiusly, it might be very useful in some situations such as certain limited MOUT ops, but would it have a wide enough field of vision to know when to hide itself, and from what angle? What is its situational awareness?
 
as far as i can tell tho, it looks to be less of a robot and more of a remote control vehicle - so its a soldier fighting with it - id assume that they wouldnt be out there alone, and maybe if a squad came under contact, the robot would be sent around out of their cover to engage the threat?  I wouldnt trust these things to be self aware either  :o
 
From the article, SWORD would have limited utility outside of simple jobs like perimeter patrol.

In an Urban setting, something along these lines could be sent to do the same job tanks are doing now; setting up at intersections to act as cut offs in an urban battle (the high accuracy of the weapons platform, and the ability to upgrade weapons to .50 cal HMG or rocket launcher would also make it able to attempt "bunker busting" or breaching missions.)

Perhaps in the future, devices like this could be added to platoons as "ammo caddies", as well as remote sensor platforms and the 2I/C's heavy weapons det.
 
I'm gonna agree with what A_Majoor has stated in regard to the usefulness in perimeter security.

Something like this could be extremely useful in manning guardposts in perimeter defense positions, especially if the risk of incoming sniper fire is high.

However, it's probably a long way off before a robotic platform replaces the human infantryman on the battlefield.
 
I don't think SWORD is intended to be replacement for an infanteer.  I understand it as a means by which a machine gunner / sniper /AT gunner can move his weapon to a better fire position while staying under cover.  It seems to provide great optics, a stable platform, a degree of mobility and protection through remote operation.
 
SWORD, being a remote control system, might also be a useful addition to vehicles which are not AFVs. A SWORD type turret on the cab of an HLVW or bulldozer would give the driver an extra set of eyes, and a level of protection that does not exist now. SWORD equipped vehicles spaced throughout the convoy would provide a useful suppliment to the on board personnel, able to add high volume and high accuracy suppressive fire when needed.
 
How about a flat-bed pick-up with an armoured cab?  SWORD on the back. Maybe 2?  Capable of supplying covering fire from the vehicle while either on the move or stationary?  Or being able to drive off the back on a ramp to run half-a-mile down the road, ahead of the vehicle, to look round the next corner?  Alternatively being able to enter a street to supply covering fire to an Infantry platoon in the assault?

All doable.
 
My major issue with this is how is it supposed to make target distinctions? Friendly, foe, civilian?
 
The same way that any soldier would normally do.....using his/her eyes. 

This is not free-ranging machine making its own decisions.  This is a remote controlled vehicle, just like the radio-controlled toy cars that I bought my kids for Christmas.  It happens to have a camera mounted on it so that the operator can see where it is going and that is bore sighted to some weapons system.  The friend or foe determination is exactly the same as that confronting a tank gunner, an Apache gunner, or a Spectre AC-130 gunner, or for that matter a UAV driver. All of them used video systems to see the target and decide on a course of action.
 
Frederik G said:
But anyways, about the SWORD thing, anyone feel like this could lead the way to a Battlemech-type fighting robot?

No, walking is very inneficient. If it was possible to evolve rotational motion in a living organism nothing would walk.
 
Hi, I have seen this piece of equipment at the us army science conference, what the press call the robo soldier. yes it is robotic, it has rubberized track, electric drive and the us army version of our C-9. It also has two cameras, day fixed forward and II combined for shooting, panable head with day and ti. It is controlled wireless by a human operator. It in no way has any AI however you should of see the other fun stuff they are comming out with!!!!
 
however you should of see the other fun stuff they are comming out with!!!!

Well?????? Don't be shy.  We're all trembling in anticipation now. ;D
 
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