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Carnegie Mellon's "Crusher" military bot getting $14 million upgrade
Carnegie Mellon's so-called "Crusher" unmanned military vehicle already had quite a bit going for it in its previous incarnation, but it now looks to set to expand its robotized arsenal even further, courtesy of a $14.4 million grant from the Army. According to the university's National Robotics Engineering Center, the updated bot will make use of the "latest suspension, vehicle frame, and hybrid-electric drive technologies to improve upon its predecessor's performance" while also promising to, somewhat ominously, "push the envelope for autonomous and semi-autonomous operation." That the NREC says, should allow the bot to begin working alongside troops in five or ten years, with it initially confined to convoy roles before it puts its autonomous skills to use in "tactical" missions.[Via CNET Military Tech]
British Army head commends 'PlayStation generation'
Speaking to an assembly of business leasers, British Army Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt praised the efforts of the country's young gamers as they continue to battle in Afghanistan and Iraq. General Dannatt recalled, "There was a time when commentators and some more experienced members of the Army expressed concern as to whether the 'PlayStation generation' were up to dealing with the gritty bloody conflict," before he dismissed the fear. "Our young soldiers, drawn from across British society, are more than a match for what is required of them and I salute every one of them," Dannatt lauded.The general's morale boost comes just seven weeks after English Barclays Premier League (soccer) manager Harry Redknapp blamed "X-Box" and "video game passion" for the country's lack of homegrown athletic talent. Look again Redknapp, all of your would-be footie stars are simply going off to war.
Joystiq interview: America's Army's Marsha Berry
America's Army is without question the most widely recognized name in serious games. The game, which started off as a tool for Army recruitment, has become something of a marvel, bridging the emerging serious games market and the larger mainstream video game industry. According to those helming the project, since America's Army's initial launch for the PC in 2002, players have taken part in more than 212 million hours representing some 3.6 billion rounds of online gameplay. In addition, the game, which now has players in over 60 different countries, has been downloaded more than 40 million times, and has received more than 24 different releases, including new missions and gameplay additions. There's strong, and then there's America's Army strong. Later this month Ubisoft and developer Red Storm will release the latest game in the America's Army franchise, America's Army: True Soldiers, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Army exclusively for the Xbox 360. We recently sat down to speak with America's Army software manager Marsha Berry to discuss this game, as well as America's Army's possible console future, and who exactly is being targeted with this and future games in the series. %Gallery-9943%
British Army looks to make tanks, troops invisible
While not the first bunch to try and mesh invisibility with military equipment, the British Army is reportedly staying busy by "testing technology it claims makes tanks and troops invisible." Apparently, the (previously) uber-secret trials were conducted by the Royal Engineers and scientists from QinetiQ, and if eyewitness reports are to be believed, they were able to "make a vehicle seem to completely disappear." The illusion (read: we're no closer to actual invisibility cloaks) was reportedly created by utilizing "cameras and projectors to beam images captured from the surrounding landscape onto a specially-adapted tank coated with silicon to maximize their reflective qualities," and if things go as planned, these elusive machines could make their way onto the battlefield "within five years." 'Course, it's not like anyone will have visual proof of that, but we suppose that's just the nature of the beast.[Via DailyMail]
Joystiq hands-on: Army of Two (360/PS3)
I recently played an almost-complete version of Army of Two, days before the decision to delay it until Q1, 2008. Originally planned to be released November 13, EA told me that the delay related most to them wanting to make sure this new intellectual property can be all it can be. (Did somebody say "franchise?") Of course, the company will easily benefit by spacing the game out from the current flood of mega hits. Army of Two casts players as mercenaries, responsible for blowing up the local scenery while following your employer's missions. Often, those objectives are the same. The Army of Two I played was a risky game that stood out in its story tone and gameplay mechanics. Some of those gambles clearly paid off -- the co-op style is the best part of the game. But EA may take this extra time to re-tune repetitive elements, like the revive-your-teammate mini-game. %Gallery-3678%
iPod being used by Army as Arabic translator in Iraq
Macenstein's got the tip on the Army using iPods in Iraq to speak Arabic. Vcommunicator Mobile is a hardware/software setup (the iPod straps to your arm, and gets a small speaker hooked up to it) that allows soldiers in Iraq to "speak" Arabic by choosing and playing certain phrases through an iPod-like interface. Very interesting-- the Arabic text even shows up on the screen as the sound clip is being played, and phonetic translations and simulated graphics of suggested gestures for each phrase are included in the browser.A new Nano version is planned (having the whole thing in a Flash drive will probably make it a little more sturdy), but for now Mac says the 10th Mountain Division will be hauling around 160 iPods to speak phrases like "Please get out of the car," and "may I see your ID?"Here's hoping the whole thing is working as well as Vcom3D is saying that it does-- clear communication is invaluable, especially in an environment as volatile as Iraq. Just another great use for Apple's little mp3 player.
Therapists, Army using Wii to rehabilitate patients
We've seen a variety of methods used to help stroke patients regain motion and motor functions, but we can't think of anything more exciting than playing video games as a critical part of your rehabilitation. Turns out, a number of physical therapists around the country are actually allowing patients to relearn balance and movement skills by playing the Wii, which as you know, it already quite the hit with the geriatric set. Furthermore, injured soldiers in Landstuhl, Germany are also "regaining their strength by playing virtual games on the Wii," and there's even suggestions out to conduct a research study that looks at the effectiveness of using Nintendo's latest console as a rehab tool. Hit the read link for the video report.[Thanks, Pat D.]
Therapists, Army tap Wii for patient rehab
While the Wii has done an admirable job getting gamers to flail their arms and smash home appliances, it's the console's seemingly never-ending stream of minigames that has many of us here shaking our heads rather than our limbs. However, this is not the case for all would-be gamers, as a new report finds that the Wii has become part of a new physical therapy regiment at a medical facility in Minneapolis, where doctors have begun looking to the Wii as a means to help stroke victims on the road to recovery as they attempt to re-learn movements they used to know by playing games like Wii Sports.Not only that, but the same report notes that the Army has likewise enlisted the Wii, noting that the little console that could is being used to help injured soldiers in Landstuhl, Germany regain some of their strength by playing games on the Wii. This is of course encouraging news, not just for those being helped, but also for video games in a more general sense, as we welcome anything that paints the business in a more positive light.[Thanks Joseph]
Realm mergers are a last resort
Realm population problems don't affect me too much, thankfully -- my server has neither too many people nor too few, and the faction balance tilts in my favor. But some people complain that their servers are ghost worlds, with not much at the auction house and not many to group for quests and dungeons. The "Recommended" tag Blizzard is using to help out low-population realms sometimes just doesn't do the trick: people play there for a while, see that no one is home, then decide to go somewhere else.So, while some people say the only way is to combine two low-pop realms into one, Drysc says that such mergers can only be a last resort:There are a couple issues with merging realms though that we would need to take into heavy consideration if one were to be considered. As many of the lower population realms are PvP, faction balance has to be taken into careful consideration. Would a merge worsen, improve, or leave any faction balance unchanged? Would a merge move the population up too high, queuing or leading to queues for the realm after that point? Do we have realms of the same time zone and type that would merge well under these conditions? There also many logistical issues with merges which ultimately effect the end user, such as conflicting character and guild names. So, in the end, a merge would only be considered if all other possible options have been completely exhausted. We're not just throwing recommended tags up on realms, and calling it a day. The recommended tag has done a lot of good for a lot of realms, but if we're seeing that they're no longer helping reach the type of population numbers we would like to see, then we would investigate alternate means. That's sort of where we're at now.So, what is there to do besides merge realms? Drysc calls that the "million dollar question," which I figure means that Blizzard doesn't know for sure, though at least a couple ideas come to my mind: They could have some kind of incentive to players who join low-population realms (that's what the Army is doing, I hear), or perhaps all but force new players to start out there unless they have a referral from another player. Of course any solution to this problem is going to create still more problems of another sort. What do you think would work best?
U.S. military turns to competition for robot "surge"
The US military has already upped the arsenal of its robots deployed in Iraq, and it now looks to be planning to expand its non-human forces even further, with it recently putting out word of a competition to find a company that can quickly deliver a slew of new bots. According to Wired's Danger Room, these new robots won't be armed, but will instead mainly be used for reconnaissance duty, and must include the ability to look inside car windows and peer underneath vehicles. Due to the urgent need for the bots, the Army's done away with the usual formal bid process and will effectively be awarding a contract on the spot to the winner of the competition, who will be required to deliver its first bots within ten days. The Army then hopes to have 1,000 new reconnaissance bots by the end of the year, with another 2,000 planned for the next five years. As Danger Room reports, iRobot seems to be the favorite to win the competition, especially considering the requirement get the bots off the assembly line as quickly as possible.
Remotely controlled armed robots deployed in Iraq
While the Army is already taking good care of our wounded robots patrolling through Iraq, a recent deployment of three special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action systems (SWORDS) has placed rifle-equipped bots in the line of fire. The trio, which all handle M249s, are "are remotely controlled by a soldier through a terminal," and while their exact whereabouts and missions remain classified, the armed machines were reportedly designed to handle "high risk" combat scenarios if necessary. Currently, there's no record of a SWORD actually firing its weapon, but considering that each of these devices can potentially remove a human from harm, don't be surprised to see full blown platoons being unleashed when finances allow. [Via Wired]
RDISS: the Army's uber-vigilant surveillance system
Being dropped into no man's land without a hint of what's going on around you can't be fun (or safe, for that matter), but scoping out foreign territory in a hurry just got a lot more reasonable. The Army's Rapid Equipping Force has developed the Rapid Deployment Integrated Surveillance System, or RDISS, which "can be installed quickly and with minimal training." Deemed "simple" to setup, the system is designed to "improve situational awareness for soldiers at joint security stations and combat outposts throughout Iraq," and plans are already in place to establish "hundreds" of these systems in various locales by the year's end. Nah, it's not nearly as hip as using GPS-equipped spy squirrels, but we guess it'll do the trick.[Via The Raw Feed]
Boeing developing truck-mounted laser cannons for US Army
Boeing is certainly no stranger to lasers of various sorts, and it's now extending its expertise to the US Army, recently snagging a $7 million contract to begin developing a truck-mounted laser weapon system. From the sound of it, the system appears to be not unlike a mobile version of the still-in-development Skyguard laser defense system, with it designed to shoot down rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds. According to Boeing, the laser cannon would be mounted on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (not exactly as pictured above) and, if the Army approves, could end up costing a cool $50 million for a "significant component" of the system to be built and tested. [Via Slashdot]
MILTRAK gives soldiers the down low on encroaching enemy forces
We've seen a variety of systems designed to better inform soldiers of what's truly going on around them, but a new setup devised by Thales UK weds an advanced GPS module, a digital magnetic compass, a microprocessor, and a "fully ruggedized display" to provide near-real time situational awareness information. Dubbed MILTRAK, this concoction equips field soldiers with a portable display which seems to work an awful lot like your basic top-screen radar (think Counter-Strike), as it displays the positions of "similarly equipped friendly (blue) forces overlaid on a relational display, raster map, or geo-referenced aerial photograph." Moreover, those in battle can purportedly share and follow routes, which enhances communication and keeps platoons from running astray. Heck, they may even forget that the bullets flying around them are real.[Via TheRawFeed, image courtesy of Army]
Army's Land Warrior program back in action
Back in the wild, cost-be-damned heyday of 2006, the US military was flying high with its "Land Warrior" technology, a multi-part combat system combining wearable GPS sat-nav, weapon-mounted sensors, and a full color heads-up display (viewed via a sinister looking monocle). But like all good military spending parties, this one came to a close just a few months after it was announced with an order to cut $3.3 billion in funding for the Future Combat Systems initiative. Now, however, it seems that the Senate Armed Services Committee has opted to partially reinstate the program (likely to the chagrin of some soldiers, for whom the gear adds 15 lbs of extra load), allowing two additional battalions to be equipped (joining the single battalion currently using the technology), and spending another $30 million on development and improvement. Now, if only the army would reinstate that Skynet program.
Military tries out more Wii therapy
Last December we posted the story of Lance Cpl. John McClellan who used his Xbox 360 as a rehabilitation device. At the time we said other systems would obviously be just as effective and now we have the story of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany using the Wii. According to Stars and Stripes, a First Amendment military paper, the Wii is being used as an experimental physical therapy device at the hospital.The story focuses on Army Spc. Shawn Roberts who used the Wii for therapy after receiving injuries in Iraq which caused him to have screws implanted in his wrist. The Wii helped him use his wrist again without realizing that he was doing therapy. Roberts says, "I wasn't expecting much out of it ... But you don't notice it while you're doing it because your mind's on the game. But then when you're done? I was sore." Therapists found the system benefiting various kinds of patients and the "department plans to analyze the results" to see if it's worth purchasing more.This isn't the only military hospital we know of using video games as therapy tools, it's not even the only general therapy Wii story we know. Honestly, at this point, we're shocked that Nintendo hasn't come out with Wii Therapy yet. No, seriously ... utterly shocked. The "game" would be a slowed down version of Wario Ware, but be specifically designed around different physical therapy needs. It's gotta be in the pipeline, Wii Therapy would be PR gold! We can imagine the coverage now. [Thanks Sgt. Mike]
LANdroids offer autonomous radio relay on the battlefield
DARPA's proposed LANdroids won't be the first installation to offer up expendable data gathering pawns on the battlefield, but these "intelligent, autonomous radio relay nodes" could be used to "establish and manage mesh networks in urban settings." Essentially, these critters would be cheaply produced and handed out en masse for warfighters to drop at random in order to create temporary and continually evolving network infrastructures that could lead to better communication over various occupied regions. It even sounds like these creatures will sport self-healing design cues, and while we're not sure if they'll be immune to imminent EMP blasts, we can already envision bored soldiers futilely hooking these things up to their PSPs and searching for an open game room. [Warning: PDF read link][Via El Reg]
Pentagon wants to make a supercomputer out of a Game Boy
The new program is called STAP-BOY (space-time adaptive processing) and the goal is to turn "any Soldier, any Marine [into] an advanced sensor platform." To do this, the military is looking to take "commercial Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) hardware and software of the type currently used for fast geometry computations in hand-held electronic games like Nintendo's GAME BOY," gifting soldiers in the field with a "technique that enhances the ability of radars to detect targets that might otherwise be obscured." Right now, this can only be done by the most advanced of supercomputers.As of now, Darpa figures it'll be ready to hand the project over to the Army by the end of 2008. Personally, we wouldn't want to be the guy in charge of using the gizmo, since we're sure we'd just play Tetris on the thing.[Via Danger Room]
US Army's Joint Repair Facility acts as ER for injured robots
While we're still a bit wary about letting a robotic M.D. get to work on our operating table, we certainly wouldn't trust those two-timing humanoids to sufficiently repair one of their own. Thankfully, the US Army seemingly agrees, as the volunteer-staffed Joint Repair Facility at Camp Victory provides human TLC for robots that receive injuries in the heat of battle. The facility is mostly responsible for mending and rebuilding devices that protect live soldiers from encountering improvised explosive devices, and it has reportedly increased exponentially in use and size since its inception just three years back. Notably, the gurus that work here are famous for repairing even the most obliterated of robots, and while they did admit that some bots are too damaged to repair, those are "few and far between."[Via CNET]
Support your Mii troops
Mark Newton and his coworkers at Gamestop received this "We're Building an Armii" shirt from their store's Nintendo representative, making sure to post a photo of their spoils for us to envy over with aching hearts. Thanks a lot, guys. Thanks for NOTHING.We're not sure which war Nintendo plans on shipping these Miis to, but just how useful would these guys be in any combat situation? Playing Wii Sports: Tennis is one thing, but keeping your cool while you're under fire and your buddy next to you is filled with shrapnel, begging you to take him home and make things alright again like they were before, is another. March two klicks past the post break for a closer look at the shirt swag.
