Segway RMP bots used for sniper target practice, other nefarious deeds (video)

Are your snipers bored of the same old stationary, predictable cardboard targets? What they need is disconcertingly realistic acting robotic ones! The Australian Defense Force and Marathon Robotics took a number of two-wheeled RMP 200 Segway robots, placed hoodie-clad foam dummies on top, armored the bottoms, and then programmed them to wander randomly around a small village. A sniper perched up on a hill then picks off his target and, like magic, the remaining robots all scatter automatically in a game way more fun than Modern Warfare could ever hope to be. There's a video of that after the break, along with an RMP 400 doing some sweet jumps off-road, even roaring up stairs. The YouTube channel at the source link has plenty more Segway demos, some new and some old, so if you have some time to kill today you know where to click.

[Thanks, Mark E.]

[Atkins Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:45AM]

That is awesome!

[grahamj Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:07AM]

@Atkins

Totally, I'd love to play with that gear!

[VictorBush Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:08AM]

♪ They see me roll on, my Segway. I know in my heart they think I'm
white n' nerdy! ♪

Anyways, that's pretty cool!

[DeFlanko Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:12AM]

@Atkins

Kinda reminds me of the RC cars days.

[Atkins Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:22AM]

@Atkins MARATHON Robotics. LOL. Sponsored by Bungie?

[abedinthehouse Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:47AM]

@Atkins
Omg I wana play!!
Where do we sign up?

[CRA1G Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:48AM]

@Atkins Makes me pine for the days of RobotWars

[amneziac Posted Apr 8th 2010 1:53PM]

@Atkins It is awesome, I'm glad that people are finally getting ready for the robot apocalypse.

[WindowedApple Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:46AM]

lots of segway related news these days!!

[Plazmic Flame Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:49AM]

One thing that was pretty crazy was the shot taken around the one minute mark in the video. The bullet went right through... =/

Sniping is serious business =/

[xkaosu9x Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:55AM]

@Plazmic Flame

well i would hope it went through. they're shooting at foam after all.

[barry99705 Posted Apr 8th 2010 11:10AM]

@xkaosu9x Wouldn't matter if it was a real person, the bullet would still go right through.

[Johanu Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:56PM]

@Plazmic Flame Thank god it went through, those guys with no legs on their segways just cruising around seemed pretty shady to me, with the cap and the hood and all..

[buoy Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:51AM]

hokay... so instead of a traditional first-person-shooter with a virtual world and NPC-bots dressed up as humans we have a traditional first-person-shooter within the real world and NPC-bots dressed up as humans riding segways.

Brilliant!

[jasongadgetguy Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:57AM]

@buoy They should charge admission to people and make some nice profits. lol I'd pay a few bucks to try it out. :)

[grahamj Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:09AM]

@jasongadgetguy

Me too! Robotic paintball teams would be a cool application too.

[Atkins Posted Apr 8th 2010 11:13AM]

@buoy Poor australian taxpayers.

[One Love Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:54AM]

Well, lets hope the sniper isn't hacking (like almost everyone) in modern warfare 2 PC. :(

[KAL326 Posted Apr 8th 2010 1:24PM]

@One Love Maybe, but how could you tell? The only sniper on the ridge no scoping the drones all day long?

[geimsss Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:55AM]

They should aim a little lower...

[doogie54 Posted Apr 8th 2010 9:57AM]

Where do I sign up for a shot?

[Gad Get Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:10AM]

@doogie54

The clinic.

[gargle Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:33AM]

@Gad Get :D:D:D:D now that was something!!

[doogie54 Posted Apr 8th 2010 3:01PM]

@Gad Get

Afraid of guns are we?

[JoseElMaton Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:09AM]

Holy shit, this is right out of the training missions in RebelStar: Tactical Command!

[TC Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:17AM]

Mission: No Segway.

[Locust Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:24AM]

OMG those things are bad-ass! I just about sh!t my pants when they showed the "post shot scatter."

[synth Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:25AM]

The 400 MNi Looks like something built by skynet

[darkazure Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:36AM]

Wow, I sure hope they don't screw up and actually hit the segway. It could become costly :-)

[barry99705 Posted Apr 8th 2010 11:11AM]

@darkazure That's why they're armored. Pretty sure they won't use AP rounds for training.

[whiskers Posted Apr 8th 2010 12:33PM]

@darkazure
AFAIK, those RMP400 are 40+K each, and that's without the armor.

[whiskers Posted Apr 8th 2010 12:36PM]

@whiskers

Never mind, didn't read close enough that they're using RMP200 for target practice. It's still expensive (8K+). The RMP400 is one hell of a beast though, it's fast, heavy, and can run you over.

[ULMarc Posted Apr 8th 2010 10:58AM]

title reflection fail

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 8th 2010 11:26AM]

Somewhere a single tear is descending Dean Kamen's cheek.

[ThreeDee912 Posted Apr 8th 2010 3:54PM]

@Unverified User

FIRST Robotics Competition Championships @ Atlanta coming up!

(anyone here ever been a part of FIRST? Dean Kamen started it as a engineering program for kids)

[IanKen Posted Apr 8th 2010 12:39PM]

Wow, you think with all those smart people at Segway they could figure out how to deinterlace their video before posting. Newbs.

[TheDudeCool Posted Apr 8th 2010 3:18PM]

First thought was the Six million dollar man vs the venus explorer robot

Second thought was how to replace Doberman as guard dogs

Thief breaks in, sees cute little robot approach, runs up stairs, robot pursues up stairs, robot grabs thief with articualting appendage,or maybe uses tazer or fires some beanbag bullets incapacitating and immobilizing thief, robot calls 911

[omemshotmailcom Posted Apr 8th 2010 3:50PM]

Not quite as nimble as the robots used for target practice by the U-87 prototype, but definitely related. I wonder if they named any Serge.

[Picklesworth Posted Apr 8th 2010 8:42PM]

Wow, they finally found a use for Segways!

[clydeseal Posted Apr 8th 2010 8:42PM]

This is it! This is how it BEGINS! First we begin using the robots for target practice. Then they turn AGAINST us! And start using us for target practice!

[Tutt Posted Apr 9th 2010 4:04AM]

Great. They've made a hunting waldo.