DARPA Cheetah mil-bot/Terminator

[DocM]

DARPA is at it again - this time developing with robotics company Boston Dynamics a new generation of mil-bots.

Danger Room....

Cheetah: a feline inspired pursuit-bot that sounds a lot like the AIMEE bot in the movie Red Planet. The movie sucked, but AIMEE was way cool....as in the first few seconds of the trailer....(video at bottom)

Darpa’s Cheetah-Bot Designed to Chase Human Prey

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As the name implies, Cheetah is designed to be a four-legged robot with a flexible spine and articulated head (and potentially a tail) that runs faster than the fastest human. In addition to raw speed, Cheetah’s makers promise that it will have the agility to make tight turns so that it can “zigzag to chase and evade” and be able to stop on a dime.

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Atlas: is conceived as a T-800ish human simulation-bot for testing equipment. So far.

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Meet Atlas, Cheetah’s humanoid pal. Atlas is supposed to look more or less like the T-800 series of Terminators, minus the head. Its designers say it’ll be able to walk like a human over rough terrain, crawling on its hands and knees when necessary and turning itself sideways to slip through any narrow passages it encounters. Headless, with a torso and two arms, it’s a step up from Boston Dynamics’ other biped, the lower-body-bot Petman.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_fWv37HiJ4

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Atlas is supposed to look more or less like the T-800 series of Terminators, minus the head.

Yeah, that's probably just as well:

That would scare the crap out of me.

I heard about Cheetah earlier this week, but both of these machines could be interesting if they manage to get off the ground. Let's just make sure we employ some sort of shutdown mechanism to them, yeah? We should have learnt from Hollywood by now.

[DocM]

Boston Dynamics works with the MIT robotics lab, who has published a concept picture under their project name - Hyper dynamic quadruped robotic platform

MIT robotics (concept image)

[neoadorable]

that's scary...what is she supposed to do to targets once she has them tho? i don't see any weapons.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Ravage?

[Teebor]

Just as worrying the humanoid robot looks a lot like the psychotic robot in Saturn 3

As for that Cheetah, I'm sure it will more for tracking a target and laser painting them for airstrikes, which would be an awesome use of tech

[TheLegendOfMart]

Im just envisioning a future where these units rebel and go hunting in packs :(

[neoadorable]

heh heh they ravage their victims to death. well, it beats having it done by other people, least this way you can blame it on machines.

[Reacon]

I would be scared witless. Imagining a T-800 without a head sort of reminds me of a starwars bot. One that also used to scare the crap out of me...

[qdave]

Boston dynamics...a very eerie name..like massive dynamics :D

[Lezard]

I imagine, these are robots to be used if the population ever rebels, I can already imagine that.

[Solid Knight]

The only problem I see with a robotic pursuer is how will it know when to quit chasing? What if a person takes a hostage? Will it be able to recognize that?

[DocM]

Each person has a unique heat signature. If I were the programmer I'd use that and other biometric identifiers to keep it focussed on an already identified target until that threat was dealt with.

[Solid Knight]

Each person has a unique heat signature. If I were the programmer I'd use that and other biometric identifiers to keep it focussed on an already identified target until that threat was dealt with.

I was questioning the ability of the robot to understand when it should and should not attack somebody it is pursuing. For example, where a take-down might result in the death of the target or those around him. Where a take-down might result in unnecessary property damage.

[DocM]

With combat drones and armed wheeled/tracked vehicles a "pilot" has to issue the attack command even if the vehicle gets to that point autonimously like the Navy's X-47B combat fighter bomber.

[neoadorable]

it's only a matter of time before these become commonplace. unlike space expansion and exploration, these babies will be able to secure funding one way or another.