A new generation of military robots are coming soon to a battlefield near you. These new battle bots are more WALL*E than ED-209—cute, small, and innocent-looking, rather than giant and murderous.
But while they may appear adorable, the latest generation of robotic warriors can do a lot more than box up trash. Here are a few examples of these cute but deadly robots in action—leaping walls, flipping trucks and…doing yoga?
Mad Ups: The Urban Hopper That Will Scale Your Fence
One of the most basic jobs of any military unit is to conduct reconnaissance and gather information about the enemy. Well, the enemy would rather keep their intentions private, thank you very much. So they do annoying things like build walls to keep your prying eyes out.
But that won’t slow down the Precision Urban Hopper, from Boston Dynamics, which uses a piston-actuated “leg” to launch itself over obstacles like walls or fences that are up to 25 feet tall. The robot could boost the capabilities of troops and Special Forces engaged in urban warfare, say researchers, and it may be ready for deployment in 2010.
A shoebox sized, GPS-guided robot is under development for the U.S. military. Oh, and the robot has mad ups too: It can leap a 25-foot wall without breaking a sweat.
Robotics company Boston Dynamics, the same group that brought you PETMAN and BigDog, built the robot—known as the Precision Urban Hopper—for the purposes of scouting enemy territory.
Most of the time, the robot…uses its four wheels to get around. But the Precision Urban Hopper can use a piston-actuated “leg” to launch it over obstacles such as walls or fences. The robot could boost the capabilities of troops and special forces engaged in urban warfare, say researchers.
The work was funded by the US military’s research branch, and the robot is expected to enlist sometime in late 2010.
Here’s a video of the little bugger posterizing a helpless fence:
Obama probably wouldn’t have as much success swatting this flying microrobot as he did his now-infamous one. Typically when engineers design flying bots, they assume they should build them with flapping wings, like insects, instead of helicopter airplane designs. But it turns out that flying robots aren’t as efficient when they’re built like flies.
David Lentink at Wageningen University and Michael Dickinson at the California Institute of Caltech pitted a robot made with fly wings and a micro-helicopter made with an attached wing against each other in an oil tank to test how much energy each one used. They found that the two robots produced the same amount of lift, but the one outfitted with the helicopter blade consumed 50 percent less energy, going against what researchers had long assumed:
The extra lift is generated by a stable ‘tornado-like’ vortex that runs parallel to the leading edge of the wing. This vortex lowers the pressure over the wing and sucks it upward, lifting the insect’s weight into the air. It was already known that both spinning and flapping insect wings can generate such a lift boosting vortex.
Still, let’s not discount our insect friends just yet: We still have much to learn from flies, Dickinson contends.
Robots may soon be able to travel through your veins and recycle your garbage—and as of this week, they can also model clothes. A robot model named Miim (not the one pictured at left) sported haute couture in designer Yumi Katsura’s recent bridal fashion show, according to The U.K. Sun.
The humanoid bot, which was designed at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, is five-foot-two-inches tall, which seems pretty short for the fashion world. On the other hand, it’s probably pretty easy for a robot to maintain a runway model’s stick-thin physique…a diet of organic plant material isn’t exactly fattening.
Remember the robot that was reported to feed on human corpses? Turns out the bot actually wouldn’t be programmed to eat flesh at all. Instead, it would stick to leaves, grass and other non-animal-based organic matter.
The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot – known as Eatr for short – does indeed fuel its “biomass engine” by digesting organic material, but it was not intended to munch its way through battlefields of fallen soldiers, Harry Schoell, the chief executive of Cyclone Power Technologies, said.
“We completely understand the public’s concern about futuristic robots feeding on the human population, but that is not our mission,” Mr Schoell said.
“We are focused on demonstrating that our engines can create usable, green power from plentiful, renewable plant matter. The commercial applications alone for this earth-friendly energy solution are enormous.”
Looks like the panic was premature, and based on some misconstrued information. Still, we have to ask: If the robot can be programmed to eat certain things, couldn’t it still potentially be hijacked and re-programmed to consume corpses?
About a year ago, we calmly speculated about the implications that a slug-eating robot might have for us delicious humans.
Recently, there have been reports of the development of a steam-powered robot that can fuel itself by consuming any organic material in its path, from leaves to twigs to (gulp) humans. Now might be a good time to panic, at least if you value your body with its flesh intact.
According to the developers of the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot, appropriately abbreviated EATR, the bot could live independently for years on old furniture, dead animals and, of course, human corpses, which provide the greatest fuel of all. Fox News reports:
EATR… which uses an “external combustion chamber” burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity….
Upon the EATR platform, the Pentagon could build all sorts of things — a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a gunship.
In press materials, Robotic Technology presents EATR as an essentially benign artificial creature that fills its belly through “foraging,” despite the obvious military purpose.
• A popular online gamer ran up debt, stole from the virtual bank he ran, and exchanged it for actual cash on the black market. And then got busted. No doubt Paramount is buying the story rights as we speak.
These days, add an emotion, a personality type, or a body part to a robot and it will make the news. In March, Japanese researchers created a female humanoid that can display facial expressions. Last year, British scientists created a robot that can move and think like humans, while European researchers have created a robot that can become “emotionally attached” to you.
Now, Japanese researchers have created a humanoid robot that, they claim, is the first in the world to display multiple emotions, with its entire face and body showing what it’s feeling. CBS13 reports:
It is able to express…happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, anger, and disgust, by opening and closing its eyes, moving its lips and eyebrows, and using its arms and legs.
The robot is installed with 48 “actuators” which allow its face and body to move in a variety of ways.
It shows happiness by opening its eyes and mouth wide and raising its arms, and sorrow by drooping its head and covering its eyes.
• According to British health chiefs, white is the new black…at least when it comes to keeping your house cool. They’re suggesting that all U.K. homes be painted white to combat global warming—a technique long used in hot Mediterranean countries like Greece.
• Scientists are using human bile acids to make a replacement for mercury and plastic dental fillings. As if going to the dentist didn’t already leave a bad taste in your mouth.
• And lastly, check out what might be the world’s smallest cat. Itty bitty kitty committee, anyone?
DiscoBlog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's edited by Eliza Strickland, and written by Brett Israel and Andrew Moseman.
A shoebox sized, GPS-guided robot is under development for the U.S. military. Oh, and the robot has mad ups too: It can leap a 25-foot wall without breaking a sweat.
Obama probably wouldn’t have as much success swatting 
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Robots may soon be able to 
Remember the robot that was reported to 
These days, add an emotion, a personality type, or a body part to a robot and it will make the news. In March, Japanese researchers created a female humanoid that 
