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Ukraine war memorial given eternal LED torch, cell antenna

by Ross Miller posted Oct 25th 2009 at 6:43AM

An eternal flame that once blazed via good old fashioned science has now been given a new lease on life thanks to modern technology. This Cherkassy, Ukraine war monument, erected in honor of fallen World War 2 soldiers, had been sitting extinguished given the price of natural gas after the fall of the Soviet Union. Now, though, the bowl has been gifted with a LED marquee simulating a flame, which covers up its alternate use as a cell tower. Sure, beauty's in the eye of the beholder and we're fairly certain this hasn't been accepted with universal approval, but if you ask us, and admittedly we're biased, the more LEDs the better.

[Via Hack a Day]

Video: Precision Urban Hopper leaps over fences, makes enemies cringe

by Darren Murph posted Sep 15th 2009 at 10:46AM

It's only been a few months since we heard from the whiz kids over at Boston Dynamics, and honestly, we've been waiting on pins and needles to see what miracle would emerge from its labs next. Said outfit has just been awarded a contract by Sandia to build the next generation of the Precision Urban Hopper, which will be a four-wheeled jumping robot that can navigate autonomously. When it rolls into battle, it'll also be equipped with a single jumping leg, giving it the ability to hop over fences, giant humans, Gort or anything else that's 25 feet tall. Best of all, testing and delivery is scheduled for late 2010, so if you were planning on getting on our bad side, you should probably have a look at the video past the break. Chances are you'll be second guessing that urge.

[Via TG Daily]

Gallery: Precision Urban Hopper leaps over fence, makes enemies cringe

Continue reading Video: Precision Urban Hopper leaps over fences, makes enemies cringe

Defense Department developing portable hacking device for soldiers

by Donald Melanson posted May 26th 2009 at 2:12PM

It's not exactly news that the Department of Defense is looking at ways to make hacking a more practical weapon, but it looks to really be stepping up its game with its latest project, which promises to make complicated attacks as simple as a few button presses. That would apparently be possible thanks to a slightly mysterious device that'd be small enough to carry around in a backpack, but powerful enough to do everything from breaking into a wireless network to hacking into SCADA (or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems (used at power plants, nuclear facilities, and the like). While complete details are obviously a bit light, the system would apparently be able to, for instance, map out the nodes in a wireless network, cause them to disconnect, and watch them come back online to identify weak spots. It would then present the "hacker" with various attack attributes that could simply be adjusted using sliders on a touchscreen. No word if the soldiers will also be rewarded with Achievements.

[Via Softpedia]

Philosopher ponders the implications of robot warfare, life with a degree in philosophy

by Joseph L. Flatley posted May 21st 2009 at 11:07AM

H+, our favorite transhumanist magazine, has just published a chat with Peter Asaro, the author of a paper titled "How Just Could a Robot War Be?" In this interview (co-authored by our old friend R.U. Sirius) the gentleman from Rutgers explores the philosophical implications of things like robot civil war, robots and just war theory, and the possibilities of installing some sort of "moral agency" in the killer machines that our military increasingly relies on. But that ain't all -- the big thinkers also discuss the benefits of programming automatons to disobey (certain) orders, drop science on a certain Immanuel Kant, and more. We know you've been dying to explore the categorical imperative as it relates to the robot apocalypse -- so hit that read link to get the party started!

Navy shells out for development of missile-killing free-electron laser

by Darren Murph posted Apr 24th 2009 at 6:09PM

You may think that the Navy's just the baby brother to the two other US Armed Forces, but its weapon development record definitely shows otherwise. Just over two years after building an 8-Megajoule railgun, the branch has penned two $7 million checks to defense contractors Boeing and Raytheon for the design and development of a free-electron laser (FEL). For what it's worth, such a device has been yearned for since a day after the dawn of time, as unlike chemical-based lasers, the FEL would be 100 percent electric and easier to move. For those unaware,this stormy petrel of a weapon would be used to blast down missiles in mid-flight, all while putting on a pretty impressive light show. 'Course, the Navy must also figure out how to build a massive energy generating ship in order to use it, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here, okay?

[Image courtesy of AIP]

Apple's iPod touch tackling "networked warfare" for US military

by Darren Murph posted Apr 20th 2009 at 8:47AM

While the British military has had a love-hate relationship with Apple's darling, the US armed forces are reportedly warming up quite well to the iPod touch. A fresh Newsweek report asserts that the touch is increasingly replacing far more expensive dedicated devices in the field, noting that it is being used to spearhead the future of "networked warfare." Equipped with a rugged shell and software developed by language translation firms (among others), the device is being used to aid communications and acquire information from databases. In fact, the US Department of Defense is "developing military software for iPods that enables soldiers to display aerial video from drones and have teleconferences with intelligence agents halfway across the globe," and snipers are already utilizing a ballistics calculator to add precision to shots. And hey, it's not like easy access to Tap Tap Revenge is really bad for morale, either.

[Via CNET]

MIT concocts semi-autonomous forklift for war zone unloading

by Darren Murph posted Jan 16th 2009 at 1:40PM

So, envision this -- a Mars rover of sorts, but on the battlefield. In a nutshell, that's what engineers and researchers at MIT have created. The so-called semi-autonomous forklift could be loosed in war zones in order to unload cargo and move supplies for soldiers. Obviously, having humans behind unwieldy crates isn't the most ideal scenario when bullets are flying, so enlisting a robot for such duties is clearly preferable. The bot can even be remotely controlled, and an array of inbuilt sensors help to direct it around objects that can't be seen from in the brush. Gurus behind the project are hoping to include voice / gesture recognition in future iterations, so that simply yelling "unload the truck!" could give the machine all the direction it needs. Come to think of it, we could use one of these buggers around the office -- reshuffling hefty HDTVs can take a toll on one's back, you know.

[Via PC World, image courtesy of OneMansBlog]

DARPA's latest: a wrap that stops bleeding with sound

by Tim Stevens posted Oct 24th 2008 at 8:32AM

If we had our way, all our military tax dollars would go to DARPA. Whether it be nano planes, robot arms, or high-resolution sniper scopes, it always has something interesting cooking, and today's defense-minded gadget is no different. It's called a DBAC device, for Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation; basically a portable ultrasound wrap that can identify wounds ("bleeders") and reduce their severity. It uses Doppler waves to find an internal leak, then turns up the frequency and amplitude on that location to stem it, all in a completely automated fashion able to be managed by any Joe in a hot zone. Okay, so perhaps it's not as cool as a remote-controlled zombie shark, but this cuff has the potential to save many lives and limbs on the battlefield -- assuming it works. DARPA hopes to have a functional prototype ready in 18 months. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via CNET News]

DARPA contract shines light on real-time video spying initiatives

by Darren Murph posted Oct 21st 2008 at 8:45AM

Only the ignorant and the uninformed would assume that DARPA has never, ever dabbled in any kind of surveillance that wasn't questionable on some level, but a recent contract awarded to Kitware gives us a better idea of just how deep the rabbit hole has gotten. The $6.7 million deal seeks to create a system whereby DARPA can "monitor live video feeds and search large volumes of archived video data for activities of interest," with the point being to match up similar events from past and present in order to prevent an attack, foreshadow a certain event or discover some sort of terrorist trademark. As of now, we're simply informed of the video spying in areas of Iraq and Afghanistan, but given that the capabilities are already here, it could be enacted wherever the government could place a camera-toting manned or unmanned aerial vehicle. Look up and give the friendly skies a wave, won't you? Just don't do anything "suspicious."

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of PointNiner]

Aruba Networks, Babylon provide WiFi for US soldiers in Iraq

by Darren Murph posted Sep 24th 2008 at 3:07AM

Aruba Networks already installed the "world's largest" WLAN network at The Ohio State University, but its latest deployment just seems strangely more, how do we say... patriotic. Tag-teaming with Babylon Telecommunications, the pair has rolled out a WiFi network that will provide internet access to over 20,000 US soldiers at Joint Base Balad in Iraq. Believe it or not, there was no existing authorized web access at the base before these two stepped in, but thanks to a contract awarded by the Army & Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES), troops at the largest US military base in the region can now e-mail loved ones with ease, test their ping times from the sandbox and join a few online poker tournaments during down time.

[Via InformationWeek, image courtesy of DefenseLink]

"Thought helmets" could enable voiceless troop communication

by Darren Murph posted Sep 22nd 2008 at 9:06AM

This won't mark the first time the US government has looked into other means for helping soldiers communicate on the battlefield, but it's one of the first instances where vocal cords aren't even necessary. The US Army has recently awarded a $4 million contract to a coalition of scientists, all of which will soon start developing a "thought helmet" to enable voiceless, secure communication between comrades. In theory, at least, the helmet will boast a litany of sensors that will hopefully "lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone." According to Dr. Elmar Schmoozer, the Army neuroscience overseeing the program, the system will be like "radio without a microphone." Oh, and don't think for a second that they aren't considering civilian applications as well -- passing along jokes on the boss via telekinesis? Yes, please.

[Via Slashdot]

COM-BAT swoops in to gather data on reconnaissance missions

by Darren Murph posted Mar 19th 2008 at 4:41PM

The University of Michigan's COM-BAT most definitely isn't the first mechanical animal to get its inspirations from the bat, but it's probably the best equipped to play a vital role in modern day warfare. A select group of Wolverines have been blessed with a $10 million grant from the US Army in order to concoct a "six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat [that] would gather data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time." Purportedly, the critter will eventually boast a bevy of sensors, miniature microphones and detectors for picking up nuclear radiation and poisonous gases. Even more interesting, creators are hoping to implement "energy scavenging," which would enable the bat to stay charged from wind / solar energy along with vibrations and "other sources." So much for being nocturnal, eh?

[Via UberGizmo]

iRobot garners award for DARPA LANdroids initiative

by Darren Murph posted Mar 3rd 2008 at 5:09PM

Get ready, battlefields, as yet another iRobot is gearing up to take you all by storm. Announced today, the aforementioned outfit has received an award under DARPA's LANdroids program which will enable it to "develop a new portable communications relay robot that is small, inexpensive, intelligent and robust." The resulting creature will reportedly be used in "dense urban environments to rapidly deploy and maintain a vital communications infrastructure," and better still, they'll be tough enough to be thrown into position and intelligent enough to "autonomously detect and avoid obstacles while navigating." Unfortunately, it seems the conclusion of said project is still a few years out, but we can already envision soldiers getting antsy to never be forced to utter "can you hear me now?" again.

[Via InformationWeek]

Military Turing test to make autonomous war robots legal?

by Darren Murph posted Feb 29th 2008 at 9:11AM

Not that we're experts on the matter or anything, but if barrister and engineer Chris Elliot knows a thing or two about legal issues, a kind of "military Turing test" could be the key to legally deploying autonomous systems in battle. As it stands, "weapons intrinsically incapable of distinguishing between civilian and military targets are illegal" -- at least according to Mr. Elliot -- but by testing an intelligent war machine's ability to hone in on legitimate targets and brush off friendlies, all that could change. Of course, actually administering the test still remains a mystery, but considering that remotely controlled armed bots are currently being used in Iraq, we reckon someone's already figuring out a solution to said dilemma.

Professor decries robotic killing machines, clearly prefers to do killing himself

by Ryan Block posted Feb 28th 2008 at 1:18AM

So the military is continuing down the totally inevitable path of computer-controlled autonomous robo-warriors capable of fighting deadly human battles on our behalf -- and out come the naysayers like U of Sheffield prof Noel Sharkey, who, at The Ethics of Autonomous Military Systems conference in London, decried the bots' self-determined killing abilities as "a threat to humanity" -- especially if they're captured and re-purposed by terrorists to do their evil bidding. Sharkey exclaimed that he's "worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies [him]," but -- and we're just gonna throw this out there -- what if being oppressed by a race of automatons run amok were actually an improvement over our corrupt governments of men? Isn't that a possibility, too? We're certainly going to keep telling ourselves it is, thankful we've somehow managed to not be overthrown by our own creations. Thus far.

P.S. -We dare you, commenters, NOT to bust out the welcoming our robot overlords cliché.