Jan 12, 2010, post by Artur Ślesik
ISRAEL is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare.Sixty years of near-constant war, a low tolerance for enduring casualties in conflict, and its hi-tech industry have long made Israel one of the world’s leading innovators of military robotics, The Wall Street Journal revealed.
In 10 to 15 years, one-third of Israel’s military machines will be unmanned, predicts Giora Katz, vice president of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., one of Israel’s leading weapons manufacturers.
In the 2006 Lebanon War, Israeli soldiers took a beating opening supply routes and ferrying food and ammunition through hostile territory to the front lines.
In the Gaza conflict in January 2009, Israel unveiled remote-controlled bulldozers to help address that issue.
Within the next year, Israeli engineers expect to deploy the voice-commanded, six-wheeled Rex robot, capable of carrying 550 pounds of gear alongside advancing infantry.
Jul 20, 2009, post by awatrobski
TARDEC has reportedly informed it is going to support the Southeastern Michigan Automotive-Robotics Initiative as the organization feels that Michigan has the people, the expertise and the potential to help cater to the robotic requirements of the Department of Defense.
Headquartered at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Mich., TARDEC, part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, is the country’s laboratory for sopchisticated military automotive technology. It develops and integrates the right technology solutions to improve the effectiveness of the current force and realize the superior capability of the future force in order to facilitate Army transformation.
According to officials, the Great Lakes Chapter of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International will host an Automotive-Robotics Cluster Initiative Partnership Workshop on July 28-29 that will seek to bring together existing automotive infrastructure with the robotics needs of the DOD.
The goal of the event is to work on the framework put forth by the DOD’s Mentor Protégé Robotics Initiative and bring out ideas to help Michigan automotive-based corporations to grow the emerging robotics cluster in the state.
The DOD Mentor-Protégé Program assists small businesses to successfully compete for contracts by partnering with large companies under individual, project-based agreements.
Among the partners involved in this effort is the U.S. Small Business Administration, which during the event will organize a resource center that will enlighten companies about the various resources available through the SBA, DOD, and state and regional economic development authorities.
The conference will be hosted by the Great Lakes Chapter of AUVS with U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research and Development Center Joint Center for Robotics, National Automotive Center, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the DOD’s Office of Small Business programs, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and Automation Alley at Oakland University’s Oakland Center.
TARDEC along with Altair recently emphasized the need for increased modeling and simulation in the development of military ground vehicles.
Jul 15, 2009, post by Artur Ślesik
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Soldiers may have armed robots as battle buddies by early next year, according to industry and military officials attending the biennial Army Science Conference.
The Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System, or SWORDS, will be joining Stryker Brigade Soldiers in Iraq when it finishes final testing, said Staff Sgt. Santiago Tordillos, a bomb disposal test and evaluation NCOIC with the EOD Technology Directorate of the Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.
“We’re hoping to have them there by early 2005,” Tordillos said. “The Soldiers I’ve talked to want them yesterday.”
The system consists of a weapons platform mounted on a Talon robot, a product of the engineering and technology development firm Foster-Miller. The Talon began helping with military operations in Bosnia in 2000, deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002 and has been in Iraq since the war started, assisting with improvised explosive device detection and removal. Talon robots have been used in about 20,000 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Foster-Miller reports.
“It’s not a new invention, its just bringing together existing systems,” said Tordillos, who has been involved with the project since its inception about a year and a half ago.
Different weapons can be interchanged on the system – the M16, the 240, 249 or 50-caliber machine guns, or the M202 –A1 with a 6mm rocket launcher. Soldiers operate the SWORDS by remote control, from up to 1,000 meters away. In testing, it’s hit bulls eyes from as far as 2,000 meters away, Tordillos said. The only margin of error has been in sighting, he added.
“It can engage while on the move, but it’s not as accurate,” Tordillos said.
The system runs off AC power, lithium batteries or Singars rechargeable batteries. The control box weighs about 30 pounds, with two joysticks that control the robot platform and the weapon and a daylight viewable screen.
SWORDS recently was named one of the most amazing inventions of 2004 by Time Magazine.
There are four SWORDS in existence; 18 have been requested for service in Iraq, Tordillos said. So far, each system has cost about $230,000 to produce, said Bob Quinn, lead integrator for the project. When they go into production, Quinn estimates the cost per unit will drop to the range of $150,000 to $180,000.
Quinn credits Soldiers with getting the project started.
“It’s a classic boot-strap effort,” said Quinn.
Tordillos fielded a variety of questions while showing off the system in the exhibit hall. Soldiers wanted to know what military occupational speciality they have to sign up for in order to work with the system. There is no specific MOS for it, he said.
Other questions were more thought provoking. Does he envision a day when armed robots outnumber humans on the battlefield? Tordillos firmly said no.
“You’ll never eliminate the Soldier on the ground,” he said. “There’ll be a mix, but there will always be Soldiers out there.”
