Well, the 82nd Airborne is trying out it's first drone counters in
Afghanistan.
Amusing article in the Army Times today discusses little tracked robots about
a foot high they are
field-testing to run through caves. It weighs 42lbs
(heavy enough to set off AP mines), is a foot tall to trip tripwires, and can
be equipped with cameras and other acessories, including a 12ga shotgun. It
costs
$40,000 (which is about 1/6th cost of paying out on
the life insurance on a single soldier).
G'day,
> Amusing article in the Army Times today discusses
Do those things have to be "hardened" (or whatever you call it) so that
someone couldn't fry them with an EM pulse? (I probably just showed my
ignorance completely there sorry, but hopefully you get what I mean).
Cheers
> --- Beth.Fulton@csiro.au wrote:
They didn't look like it and there was no mention of it in the article.
Considering the illiterate camel-herders they are
looking for, I doubt it's that high on the list of concerns.
> On Wed, 7 Aug 2002 11:20:15 +1000 , Beth.Fulton@csiro.au wrote:
> Do those things have to be "hardened" (or whatever you call it) so that
I thought someone (Oerjan, perhaps?) pointed out that it's incredibly
difficult to generate a strong enough EM pulse short of detonating a nuke. EM
pulses as weapons in this manner are still the thing of sci-fi.
> I thought someone (Oerjan, perhaps?) pointed out that it's incredibly
EM
> pulses as weapons in this manner are still the thing of sci-fi.
> At 2:10 PM +0100 8/7/02, Germ wrote:
And they're going to get a bucket of water in the desert....where? The bathtub
and central plumbing that they have in the cave?
> Ryan Gill wrote:
What about those Fremen suits? (okay, so they don't have them, but if they
did...)
:-)
Mk
> At 2:10 PM +0100 8/7/02, Germ wrote:
And they're going to get a bucket of water in the desert....where? The bathtub
and central plumbing that they have in the cave?
That doesn't rule out just using ECM to screw up radio transmissions if radio
is being used to control it.
If these things are similar to the ones we rec'd a demonstration of in Haiti,
(why they decided to demo new toys to a bunch of MP's and Infantry in Haiti
I'll never know), then they have multiple options for
controlling it including radio(frequency-hopping digital radio, no
less), IR laser, wire.
They have at a minimum two cameras on them, one controlled by the
"driver" another controlled by a motion sensor (over-ridable by the
driver or a co-pilot/gunner). When the little bot is armed, the gun
points where the motion sensor points the camera, and is fired by
driver/co-pilot command. They can amplify ambient light as well as use
an IR flashlight to light their way. Oh, and they have sound pick-ups
like those "wolf-ear" headphones hunters like to use... they amplify
normal sounds, but cut back when they go above comfort-level, even going
so far as to dull gunshots to a comfortable level, though that filtering of
the sound might happen back at the controller station, not on the bot. I'm
sure the bot doesn't mind a little extra noise.
At the time I saw the demo (1995-ish), they were unarmored, driven by
rubber treads and capable of keeping up with a troop doing the airborne
shuffle over fairly even terrain. They could traverse stairs and curbs, the
robot arm could open doors, drill holes and cut wires. And that's all I can
remember right now.
Seeing as how they weigh 42 lbs... I can easily see all landmines being
modified to only detonate when 45 lbs steps on them...
> On Wed, 2002-08-07 at 09:03, Allan Goodall wrote:
In the cave:
"*Psst...* Hey, Ahbuhammed... go pee on that evil devil-tool of the
American pig-dogs..."
"Umm... Mahmut, my friend, why does your voice remind me of the time my
brother dared me to pee on the electric fence?"
Outside the cave:
"Sir, the robot stopped working..."
"That's okay specialist... I think we know why..."
"Sir?"
"Well, our interpretor is saying that they were talking about urinating on it,
and troops by the cave's entrance have reported a sharp yell followed by some
whining and crying..."
> On Wed, 2002-08-07 at 09:39, Germ wrote:
> At 06:13 PM 8/6/2002 -0700, John wrote:
> Well, the 82nd Airborne is trying out it's first drone
I didn't see this on Army Times Online, though I did see an interesting
presentation on a survey to see what the soldiers in Afghanistan liked and
disliked about their gear. Interesting read.
> --- Germ <germ@germy.co.uk> wrote:
Ummm... if you've had the robot dunked in a bucket of water, the robot has now
located the enemy and prevented an ambush. IOW, it's 'made it's points'.
G'day,
> I thought someone (Oerjan, perhaps?) pointed out
EM pulse (buckets of water or even the Dr's hat over the eyestalk...) maybe
not, but what about flash-bang's to overload the sensors, running an
electric charge down the trip wires to fry the bots (the reports I've read
mention that solar panels etc were being used to power electronics in the
caves so this is not that hard to see happening... given my limited
understanding about capacitors and short circuits). I was more wondering about
whether the booby traps would just change in form to accommodate the potential
presence of robots. With a mind to scenario writing would the following be a
feasible potential event....
1) Robots are overwhelmed by new booby traps so humans are needed anyway 2)
Robots are sent through the area, they set off booby traps (e.g. mines set off
by 42 lbs) and the area is assumed clean. Soldiers now enter to find that
there is a second layer of booby traps (e.g. mines set off by 60 lbs
etc).
Cheers
> --- Beth.Fulton@csiro.au wrote:
> 1) Robots are overwhelmed by new booby traps so
The area is not assumed clean. The robot sets off 1 mine and blows up. All of
a sudden we know for a fact that this cave actually has inhabitants. As
opposed to the hundreds of holes in the ground which are not inhabited.
It's a safe and fast way to determine which caves are worth further attention,
not a replacement for infantrymen.
Of course, in SGII drone counters aren't a replacement for infantry either.
> > What about a bucket of water. Do you think they
I cannot believe you just fell for the bucket of water balanced on the top of
the door trick!:)
On another point, is there still a reluctance to allow the robot to operate
any weaponry its self? I know people get very nervous about giving machines
weapons.
I've seen documentation for tripod mounted anti-tank weapons
which have a sensor that will fire the weapon if anything passes it. Sort of
thing you place in a bush at the side of a road. Lots of concerns about
friendly fire though.
Jeremey