A step closer to working ray guns, RoboPike and RoboTuna, and Starship Troopers for real -- keep up with the cutting-edge military tech news from the past week.
DefenseTech.org is a blog that has the inside scoop on the latest developments in technology. From Predator drones to biowar defense, computer security to nuclear threats, the blog examines the intersection of technology and defense from every angle, covering the exploits of soldiers and hackers, madmen and geniuses, inventors and dictators.
By Noah Shachtman and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, DefenseTech.org
Industry Bigs Team Up on Ray Guns
Two of the heavyweights of the defense industry are teaming up to develop "a laser armed combat vehicle," Baltimore Business Journal says.
Northrop Grumman, which is building the Army's Tactical High Energy Laser, will put together the ray gun. United Defense, maker of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, "will develop a hybrid [gas/electric] combat vehicle that would carry the laser weapon," according to the Journal.
There's no contract with the Pentagon, yet, for such a weapon. But the partnership represents the rapid evolution of laser technology, company execs note. The Tactical High Energy Laser has had a number of successful tests, shooting down incoming rockets. The modified 747 Airborne Laser, after a seemingly-endless slumber, is beginning to make progress.
More importantly, electric-powered lasers are finally starting to build up the power they need to work as weapons. In a few months, researchers at the Lawrence Livermore national lab and elsewhere plan to test a 25 kilowatt solid-state laser. If those trials work out as expected, the Defense Department will then start handing out grants for a laser with a hundred kilowatts of power -- that's widely-considered the threshold for ray gun action to begin.
"Operational demonstrations and systems will become reality in the near future," Patrick Caruana, vice president of Space and Missile Defense for Northrop Grumman Space Technology, said in a press release.
The vehicle is meant to fight off mortars, drones, and other threats from the air. To prove to the Pentagon that the machine is worth funding, "Northrop Grumman and United Defense are pursuing ground vehicle-based laser system demonstrations that will prove the effectiveness and utility of high-energy lasers against threats and will provide critical packaging and integration activities that will demonstrate the operational usefulness of these systems."
There's More: One step forward, one step back. The Airborne Laser's first flight test in two years was cut short this week, after some "anomalous instrumentation readings." Space News says a cabin pressure problem was to blame.
Discussion Board: What's your take on these ray gun plans?
Robo-Crappie, Anyone?
The People's Daily (China) reports that the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Beihang) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed an "underwater bionic robotic fish." Apparently these things are big in Asia. A Japanese toy company has a whole line of fish, jellyfish, turtles and an ammonite. An ammonite?
Anywho ... at the bottom of the AFP wire story, I noticed a reference to "robotic lamprey parasites." I expected the typical "perfidious CHICOMs" story, but the article was actually all about research by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) into biomechanical robots--including the aforementioned robotic lamprey parasite.
Did anyone else know that DARPA was funding an entire biomechanical bestiary, including birds and cockroaches? The FY 2005 Defense Budget contains $ 90 million in unclassified funding for "Biologically Based Materials and Devices," including $ 38 million for "Bioinspired and Bioderived Materials."
Some of the fish-related work is being performed at MIT. Insomniacs may wish to peruse “A Swimming Robot Actuated by Living Muscle Tissue” prepared by Drs. Hugh Herr and Robert G. Dennis for DARPA. Herr and Dennis detail the exploits of one RoboPike, which is the follow-on to -- I swear every word of this is true -- RoboTuna. I know you don’t believe me, so here is the fact sheet.
-- Dr. Jeffrey Lewis
Discussion Board: What's your take on these robotic fish?
Real-Life Exoskeletons Emerge
I've got an itty-bitty article in tomorrow's New York Times Magazine, on real-life exoskeletons. You can read it here. But, to give you guys a window into how the editing process works, I thought I'd show you my first draft. It's a bit more florid, and less clear, than what finally appeared in print.
It was just a few steps, clunky and deliberate, like a toddler's waddle. But to a far-flung group of engineers, soldiers, and science fiction fans, these strides, on a treadmill inside a University of California, Berkeley laboratory, couldn't have been more profound. Here was a man, walking naturally, more or less, with the help of a set of mechanical muscles wrapped around his legs – a real-life exoskeleton.
The ur-geek author Robert Heinlein first dreamed up the idea of soldiers stepping into suits of powered armor, to make them stronger and faster, in his 1959 classic Starship Troopers. Sigourney Weaver cemented the exoskeleton in the collective consciousness in 1986, when she donned a metallic over-suit in Aliens, and kicked some slimy, interstellar ass.
In the real world, though, researchers struggled to replicate Sigourney's heroics. The exoskeletons they built were too stiff, too unnatural in their gait. Engineers would try to have them move as much like a human as possible. It never seemed to work.
The problem was that researchers were trying too hard, Berkeley engineering professor Homayoon Kazerooni finally realized. When people walk, they make an endless series of unconscious calculations and corrections to keep their stride. It's way too complicated a task for machines to handle. So instead of pre-programming the exoskeleton's every step, Kazerooni decided to let go. He set his exoskeleton up with a set of 40 sensors, and let it follow wherever the person inside wanted to wander.
The result, called BLEEX (short for "Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton") is a set of modified combat boots, attached to what look like metal braces that snake up the sides of the legs. Those connect with a tough plastic vest and backpack, where the exoskeleton's brain – a Pentium-5 equivalent processor -- sits.
About 70 pounds of stuff can be crammed into the pack. But that load only feels like five pounds or so, once the exoskeleton is turned on; the mechanical legs pick up the rest. (BLEEX 2, slated for June, should be able to carry 150 pounds, and amble at a four mile-per-hour clip.) The Pentagon – which has been funding much of Kazerooni's research – wants the machine to ease the burden on G.I.s, who routinely haul more that a hundred pounds of gear into battle.
But Kazerooni sees his exoskeleton as more than just a "war machine." The mechanical legs might someday help the elderly get around, he hopes. Replacing grandma's walker is a long way from Aliens. But at least it's real.
