Robotics

Since we were already on the subject.

Here's a bit of the latest and greatest from the Military Industrial Complex.

Up first we have Boston Dynamic's LS3 also known as BigDog.

Thanks to our friend Evan for this one.

Next up we have Time Magazine's "Most Awsome Invention of 2010" the Raytheon XOS2 Exoskeleton.

Sleep well Sheeple.

We've argued on many occasions that there is a web site for every interest, evidently there is also a TV channel for every interest.

Having posted Faultline's story about US Military robots the other day, we received a slew of stuff on robots of all types.  Almost all the sources for military robots led to The Military Channel.

The following is taken from their discussion on the about a dozen or so different robots/drones presently deployed by the US military.

As always click on the photo below for the Military Channel's feature "Meet the Military Robots".

Dragon Runner

The U.S. Marines deployed a dozen Dragon Runners to Iraq a year ago.  Developed by Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and the United States Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) in Quantico, Va., the Dragon Runner is a small, lightweight, portable mobile reconnaissance/scout robot (or "bot"). At 15.5 inches long, 11.25 inches wide and 5 inches high, it is a tough low-lying/low-observable ground sensor.

It's designed to withstand being tossed over walls, chucked out of windows, and heaved over stairs, and then sent on its way, looking for bad guys.

A nonactive, invertible suspension and durable overall construction allow Dragon Runner to withstand a whole lot of physical abuse and continue to operate no matter how it lands.

According to Capt. Dave Moreau, project officer for Dragon Runner at the MCWL, "there's no right side up"; just throw it off the back of a moving vehicle and it‘s on its way. Dragon Runner is outfitted with a small video camera, an audio microphone, infrared illuminators (for night operations) and infrared sensors (for obstacle avoidance).

From AlJazeera's Faultlines program.

We'll say it again, AlJazeera is simply the single best news gathering outfit on earth ... bar none ... and it renders what passes for news gathering in the U.S. a joke.

Over the past decade, the US military has shifted the way it fights its wars, deploying more unmanned systems in the battlefield than ever before.

Today there are more than 7,000 drones and 12,000 ground robots in use by all branches of the military.

These systems mean less American deaths and also less political risk for the US when it takes acts of lethal force – often outside of official war zones.

But US lethal drone strikes in countries like Pakistan have brought up serious questions about the legal and political implications of using these systems.

Fault Lines looks at how these new weapons of choice are allowing the US to stretch the international laws of war and what it could mean when more and more autonomy is developed for these lethal machines.

So many secrets at the CIA.

So many bankers at the CIA.

Coincidence?