darpa how robots destroy the world
military robots usa
the u.s defense advanced research
projects agency or darpa has a
reputation for working on some of the
most cutting-edge futuristic projects
many that could easily be mistaken for
science fiction
keep watching to find out more
the defense advanced research projects
agency or darpa is an advanced
technology branch of the us department
of defense the purpose of the agency is
to try out new technologies and make
them operationally ready if possible and
to reach beyond current military
technology to do something new
darpa imagines and makes possible new
capabilities for overcoming the
multi-faceted threats and challenges
that lie ahead this makes a better more
secure future possible the agency wrote
on its website
precision guidance and navigation
stealth unmanned aerial vehicles night
vision and communications and networking
are among the technologies that changed
the face of war over the last two
decades
history of darpa
the agency that became darpa was created
after the soviet union launched the
sputnik satellite in 1957.
the first satellite sent to space
sparked a wave of worry that the united
states was falling behind
technologically
first called the advanced research
projects agency arpa's first priority
was to assert the united states military
presence in space at the time the space
race was in full swing
nasa was sending astronauts on ever
longer and more complicated missions to
bring crews to the moon which it
succeeded in doing between 1969 and 1972
lately darpa has been involved in
various projects which are just as
mind-boggling as they are interesting so
let's have a look at a few from humanoid
robots to flying armored cars here are
10 of the coolest darpa projects
wildcat and big dog as their name
suggests wildcat and big dog are
four-legged headless robots designed to
walk run and carry heavy loads through
potentially dangerous terrain much like
deployed troops
darpa awarded contracts to boston
dynamics to develop wildcat and big dog
for use by the military
big dog created in 2005 is three feet or
0.91 meters long and stands 2.5 feet or
0.76 meters tall the robot which is
roughly the size of a small mule is
capable of hauling 400 pounds 181
kilograms of cargo and can navigate
difficult terrain and inclines up to 35
degrees
wildcat however is quicker and more
agile the robot can gallop up to 16
miles per hour or 25 kilometers per hour
on flat surfaces and is part of a darpa
mission to develop robots that can
assist human soldiers on a variety of
ground missions
avatar project
sometimes life imitates art as is the
case with darpa's project to develop
interfaces that enable soldiers to
control and partner with semi-autonomous
bipedal machines that act as the
soldier's surrogate sound familiar
hollywood director james cameron
explored the idea in his 2009
blockbuster hit avatar
in its 2013 budget darpa allocated 7
million dollars to its avatar project
which could enable soldiers to control
surrogate robots in dangerous combat
situations
excalibur
to reduce the amount of collateral
damage in war particularly during
battles fought in urban settings darpa
is developing laser weapons that are
small and efficient enough to be used in
combat
these experimental laser weapons will be
10 times lighter than existing high
power laser systems currently in use
darpa officials have said
the lasers developed for airplanes may
also be used for laser communications
target designation and airborne
self-protection agency officials added
falcon project
darpa's falcon project was announced in
2003 as a joint program with the u.s air
force the project aimed to develop a
reusable unmanned rapid strike
hypersonic vehicle
a prototype hypersonic technology
vehicle 2 or htv2 first flew in april
2010 and again in august 2011
the ultra-fast aero-shaped drone flew at
blistering hypersonic speeds of mach 20
about 20 times the speed of sound more
than 22 times faster than commercial
jetliners
during the flight surface temperatures
on the vehicle reached 3 500 degrees
fahrenheit or
1930 degrees celsius which is hotter
than a blast furnace capable of melting
steel
during both test flights operators lost
contact with the htv-2 prototypes in
july 2013 darpa confirmed it would not
conduct a third flight of the htv-2 but
research on the project will continue to
gain better understanding of hypersonic
flight
transformer
imagine a militarized version of chitty
chitty bang bang
this is the thrust of darpa's
transformer project which aims to
develop a flying armored car
the four-person vehicle will be able to
drive normally but also take to the
skies to avoid road obstructions or
other threats on the ground
the vehicle is being designed to take
off and land from the vertical position
and will be able to fly up to 250
nautical miles on a single tank of fuel
eventually these flying tanks may be
used for strikes raids counter
insurgency operations reconnaissance
medical evacuation and supply missions
atlas
darpa's atlas project was revealed to
the public on july 11 2013
the bipedal humanoid robot stands six
feet tall or 1.8 meters and is designed
to assist with a range of emergency
services including search and rescue
operations
the u.s department of defense is not
interested in using the atlas robot in
combat situations officials have said
atlas was developed by boston dynamics
and was based on some of the company's
earlier robot creations
navigation chip
advances in gps technology
revolutionized tracking and navigation
but what about areas where gps is
unavailable or the signals are
interrupted
to help soldiers find their way around
areas of gps blackout darpa researchers
are developing a tiny navigation chip
that is smaller than a penny
the so-called timing and inertial
measurement unit or teemu chip
incorporates three gyroscopes three
accelerometers and a highly accurate
master clock into a single miniaturized
system that can provide precise
information for navigation including
orientation acceleration and time
darpa officials have said the navigation
chips will not replace gps but rather
are designed to work when gps is
unavailable or doesn't work
x37 the boeing-built x-37 reusable space
plane started as a nasa project in 1999
but was eventually transferred to darpa
in 2004 before the air force took
control of the project two years later
the unmanned x-37 orbital test vehicle
which resembles a miniaturized version
of the space shuttle rides into orbit a
topper rocket and returns to earth and
lands as a space plane
the x-37 launched on its first orbital
mission in april 2010.
previously darpa reported it was
developing the x-37 to rendezvous and
refuel older satellites or perform minor
repairs in space using a robotic arm
speculation mounted however that the
x-37 was being used by darpa and the air
force as a vehicle for space-based
weapons in 2010 a high-ranking air force
official involved with the project
dismissed the rumors and stressed that
the x-37's main purpose is to test space
technology
brain machine interfaces
imagine if your brain could communicate
with an external device such as a
thought-controlled mechanical arm or a
device to restore sight
darpa researchers are investigating
potential communication pathways between
the human brain and machines to build
assist augment or repair human cognitive
or sensory motor functions
research on these so-called brain
machine interfaces began in the 1970s
and work by darpa researchers is focused
on neural prosthetics that aim to
restore damaged sight hearing and
movement
one of darpa's brain machine interface
projects is proto-2 a thought-controlled
prosthetic arm
proto-ii consists of a dexterous hand
and fingers that can perform 25 joint
motions
micro scale pumps
darpa funded researchers created the
world's smallest vacuum pump system that
can be used for any electronics or
sensors that require a vacuum
in 2008 darpa's chipscale vacuum
micropumps or csvmp program set out to
develop the smallest most power
efficient pumps ever created
the vacuum pumps could be used to build
tiny chemical sensors such as ultra
sensitive gas analyzers to detect
chemical or biological attacks or to
design new sensors or instruments for
micro drones the penny size vacuum pumps
were created by researchers at the
university of michigan mit and honeywell
international
iris
one of the most audacious darpa robot
projects of all time is codenamed iris
it is a chip that can be installed in
smartphones however unlike smartphone
chips that have just four cores iris has
168 cores and it would be programmed
with artificial intelligence to
supposedly match the human brain
through this chip the pentagon plans to
enable robots and drones to learn in
real time without any human input the
defense department has tried to reassure
the public and nervous observers that
its robots and ai will still be limited
and accountable to humans
we're very clear that the lethality
decision should always be made by a
human walker said but we can develop
technology for the human warfighter to
make his decisions more quickly and
effectively
that's all for today folks see you
another time