May 18 2012
Picture the “shake weight,” only infinitely cooler because it goes to war and can save the lives of our servicemembers – then you have what is being dubbed the Throw-Bot. It’s built to be thrown over walls, into rooms, and can ever survive being thrown from a three story building.
Awesome.
From CNN, “Robot can help troops see through walls“:
Apr 30 2012
Dismounted infantry on foot patrols often are confronted with threats from pressure-plate explosives buried along their intended routes. To counter such threats, a Fredericksburg, Va., company has developed a robot with a mini-flail attachment that can clear a safe walking path for soldiers.
The Protector, made by HDT Robotics, clears a trail at a 3 mph speed. It is powered by diesel, or JP-8, can run for three days on internal fuel. The flail head weighs 212 pounds and clears a 22-inch wide path.
The prime mover in the Protector is 36 inches wide, 30 inches high and 60 inches long, weighs 470 pounds, and can carry a 1,000 pound payload at a maximum speed of 10 mph. It has the ability to climb 40-degree slopes, is operated by a hand-held controller, and can function up to 1,300 feet away from the operator.
Tom Van Doren, chief operating officer of HDT Robotics division, calls trail-clearing a difficult operation and says that robotic technology is the best application for the job “so you have reasonable standoff during an explosive event.”
However, he notes, existing robotic technology has been insufficient for the job in terms of endurance, range, and capability, which led HDT Robotics to develop the Protector mini-flail application.
“Existing Pakbots or Talons that have been deployed have a couple of hours of endurance and don’t have a lot of terrain handling capabilities,” Van Doren says. “They aren’t sufficient platforms to interrupt IEDs. The military needs something that can go down the trail with dismounted troops and disrupt devices.”
The technology HDT Robotics developed was a hammer flail, a proven technology already in use by the U.S. Army.
“The Army already procures the M160 [Anti-personnel Mine Clearing System],” Van Doren observes, “It’s 6-feet wide, weighs more than 10,000 pounds, and can clear a small minefield, but you can’t take it down a path.”
Van Doren says the first operational prototype of the Protector has proven capable in testing and that HDT Robotics was close to entering an agreement with a U.S. governmental agency for further testing and operational assessment.
“Because it can carry 500 pounds on the robot and another 500 pounds on a tow trailer, we think it also has a role as a logistics robot,” Van Doren says. “It’s built to be modular, with the flail as one module and the hydraulic power takeoff as another. The chassis, engine, fuel, and electronics modules all come apart and were designed for mobility so if the troops encounter an obstacle they can’t get across, they can break down the Protector and make it man portable.”
About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the mystery novel, Full Moon, and several books on historical military small arms.
Apr 02 2012
New Zealand-based Rocket Lab, which specializes in surveillance, and L2 Aerospace in Florida, which focuses on innovative unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), together have developed a small, lightweight, hand-deployed rocket unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) system.
Called Instant Eyes, the rocket-launched miniature UAV can provide nearly instantaneous situational awareness and is especially useful in urban and built-up environments.
Instant Eyes, which weighs less than one pound, consists of a small rocket launched from a hand-held tube. Through a direct downlink to a hand-held unit or laptop, Instant Eyes can provide troops with a clear display of their immediate environment.
Nick Gritti, president of ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and flight systems for L2 Aerospace, says L2 funded $600,000 for rapid development of the idea that went from the “back of a napkin concept” developed by L2 founder retired Air Force Gen. Lance Lord and Rocket Lab director Peter Beck to prototype test in nine months.
According to Gritti, Instant Eyes ascends quietly with no smoke trail to 2,500 feet and then is parachute dropped for about two minutes’ flight time, sending motion imagery down to a situationally disadvantaged end-user on the ground.
“It sounds like an illumination flare being lit off so no hearing protection is necessary,” Gritti says. “Instant Eyes ascends quickly and in 12 seconds it will stream motion imagery down to a laptop, Android phone, iPad, or video receiver with covert monocle. It generates its own 2.4 Ghz 802.11g network that, on the ground, acts as a WiFi hotspot for a small team.”
Gritti says the images come down from Instant Eyes are stored and immediately displayed and also can be distributed to remote team members up to 500 meters away.
The Instant Eyes launch tube is 11.73 inches long and 1.89 inches in diameter, while the miniature UAV itself is 10.43 inches long and 1.54 inches in diameter.
Instant Eyes, which currently carries a 5-megapixel camera as payload, has the technological capabilities to carry other sensors for nighttime, signals intelligence, and radiation detection uses, Gritti says.
“An operator can use Instant Eyes to determine where the bad guys are and tell his team what to do,” Gritti says. “Instant Eyes changes the focus of who’s getting the information and what they’re using it for because it is giving instantaneous tactical situational awareness to the guy who needs it, when he needs it.”
While Instant Eyes is still flying in the prototype stage, Gritti says L2 and Rocket Lab have been invited to an invitation-only exercise run by Naval Special Warfare Development Group to demonstrate Instant Eyes. He says the two companies plan to further refine and develop the system to make it more flexible and modular.
About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the mystery novel, Full Moon, and several books on historical military small arms.
Mar 13 2012
The United States Marine Corps (USMC) announced the re-launch of its website, www.Marines.com, designed to more dynamically illustrate the history, impact and journey of America’s elite warriors. With more than 150 creative video depictions of real-life Marine training and missions, the site offers an authentic glimpse into what makes a Marine.
New features include more than 500 photos and videos, an ability to personalize content and improved navigational storytelling. The storytelling approach shows Marines in a way previously only known to the few men and women who serve in the Corps. The site reflects how Marines have continued to evolve and grow, like today’s diverse society they protect, to fight a wider array of battles and a greater spectrum of threats. Additionally, this resource is one of the first introductions to Marine Corps career opportunities and works to meet today’s growing social culture and highlight alignment with the generational youth aspirations for public service and education.
The site includes a registration tool that personalizes information and updates, answers questions, connects directly to recruiters and takes users on a journey to determine what it takes to be a Marine.
New content on Marines.com includes:
Mar 05 2012
Production of the U.S. Air Force’s latest radar-jamming Miniature Air Launched Decoy, the MALD-J, has begun by Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., after the award of a $5 million contract.
The MALD is a state-of-the-art, low-cost air-launched programmable flight vehicle that performs a decoy mission by simulating U.S. and allied aircraft on radar. The J (jammer) option continues the decoy function of the MALD but adds a jamming function.
Jeff White, Raytheon’s MALD business development manager, says the MALD-J is designed to fly a pre-programmed course that allows for a hundred way points on eight different routes.
“The MALD-J can be used offensively to penetrate and fool target tracking and early warning radars by drawing attention off of real aircraft,” White says, “because it emulates the electronic signature of a U.S. or allied airplane. It can be programmed to emulate a fighter, bomber, or cargo-sized target.”
While the MALD draws attention away from actual aircraft, the jamming functions serves to confuse the command and control system and makes the enemy shoot missiles at it. In effect, the MALD-J takes the place of a manned aircraft that would typically be tasked to stand and jam.
The MALD-J, 10-inches in diameter, 9-1/2-feet long and weighing 285 pounds, is carried on the Air Force’s F-16 fighters and B-52 bombers. Its fuel bladder holds 80 pounds of jet fuel, giving it an endurance of 500 miles or an orbit time of 2 1/2-hours.
White says the MALD-J also is capable of doing a high-speed dash for 200 miles and still have enough fuel to orbit for 30 minutes.
Raytheon also developed the MCALS or MALD Cargo Air Launch System, a 12-foot long birdcage-type carrier that holds a MALD-J and straps down onto the ramp of a cargo aircraft. White says the system uses a compressed gas initiator to eject the MALD-J out of the back of the cargo plane.
While an F-16 carries a maximum of four MALD-Js, a C-130 cargo plane can carry 24.
White points out the MALD-J also can be integrated on an aircraft in an unpowered version where it is dropped like a dumb bomb.
About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the mystery novel, Full Moon, and several books on historical military small arms.
Feb 29 2012
The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation has added three galleries with accompanying docent lectures to the National Museum of the Marine Corps Virtual Experience. Launched in June 2010, Virtual Experience allows Marines and civilians from across the world to experience a cutting-edge web version of the real National Museum of the Marine Corps (NMMC) located near Quantico, Virginia.
Through a series of high-definition, 360 degree panoramic tours, audio narratives and extensive multimedia presentations, visitors to the website experience the NMMC as if they’re actually there. Virtual Experience special features include:
Unable to visit the Museum from his home in Beverly Hills, Calif, Marine Steven Wallace, who has since passed away, conceived of the NMMC Virtual Experience. With many Marines deployed around the world and the economy as uncertain as ever, Wallace wanted to ensure that all Marines had the opportunity to visit their Museum.
Virtual Experience was realized as a result of Wallace’s generous financial contribution. The Virginia-based eBusiness and technology consulting firm, Dynology Corporation, created the site.
Take a tour of the NMMC Virtual Experience by visiting http://www.virtualusmcmuseum.com.
Feb 21 2012
This is just plain cool– plus it was partially funded by DARPA so it has a military tie, I promise:
For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these 5-ounce lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping. Now, a team of polymer scientists and a biologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent “Geckskin,” a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall.
Doctoral candidate Michael Bartlett in Alfred Crosby’s polymer science and engineering lab at UMass Amherst is the lead author of their article describing the discovery in the current online issue of Advanced Materials. The group includes biologist Duncan Irschick, a functional morphologist who has studied the gecko’s climbing and clinging abilities for over 20 years. Geckos are equally at home on vertical, slanted, even backward-tilting surfaces.
“Amazingly, gecko feet can be applied and disengaged with ease, and with no sticky residue remaining on the surface,” Irschick says. These properties, high-capacity, reversibility and dry adhesion offer a tantalizing possibility for synthetic materials that can easily attach and detach heavy everyday objects such as televisions or computers to walls, as well as medical and industrial applications, among others, he and Crosby say.
This combination of properties at these scales has never been achieved before, the authors point out. Crosby says, “Our Geckskin device is about 16 inches square, about the size of an index card, and can hold a maximum force of about 700 pounds while adhering to a smooth surface such as glass.”
Beyond its impressive sticking ability, the device can be released with negligible effort and reused many times with no loss of effectiveness. For example, it can be used to stick a 42-inch television to a wall, released with a gentle tug and restuck to another surface as many times as needed, leaving no residue.
Previous efforts to synthesize the tremendous adhesive power of gecko feet and pads were based on the qualities of microscopic hairs on their toes called setae, but efforts to translate them to larger scales were unsuccessful, in part because the complexity of the entire gecko foot was not taken into account. As Irschick explains, a gecko’s foot has several interacting elements, including tendons, bones and skin, that work together to produce easily reversible adhesion.
Now he, Bartlett, Crosby and the rest of the UMass Amherst team have unlocked the simple yet elegant secret of how it’s done, to create a device that can handle excessively large weights. Geckskin and its supporting theory demonstrate that setae are not required for gecko-like performance, Crosby points out. “It’s a concept that has not been considered in other design strategies and one that may open up new research avenues in gecko-like adhesion in the future.”
The key innovation by Bartlett and colleagues was to create an integrated adhesive with a soft pad woven into a stiff fabric, which allows the pad to “drape” over a surface to maximize contact. Further, as in natural gecko feet, the skin is woven into a synthetic “tendon,” yielding a design that plays a key role in maintaining stiffness and rotational freedom, the researchers explain.
Importantly, the Geckskin’s adhesive pad uses simple everyday materials such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which holds promise for developing an inexpensive, strong and durable dry adhesive.
The UMass Amherst researchers are continuing to improve their Geckskin design by drawing on lessons from the evolution of gecko feet, which show remarkable variation in anatomy. “Our design for Geckskin shows the true integrative power of evolution for inspiring synthetic design that can ultimately aid humans in many ways,” says Irschick.
The work was supported by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) through a subcontract to Draper Laboratories, plus UMass Amherst research funds.
Feb 03 2012
Say what?! DangerRoom blog has the scoop on some new miltech that could really do some damage, courtesy of Sandia Laboratories:
Each self-guided bullet is around 4 inches in length. At the tip is an optical sensor, that can detect a laser beam being shone on a far-off target. Actuators inside the bullet get intel from the bullet’s sensor, and then “steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target.” The bullet can self-correct its navigational path 30 times a second, all while flying more than twice the speed of sound…
Even with an ace marksman, researchers found that a typical unguided bullet — operating in real world conditions that might include crosswinds or changes in air density — would miss a target that was a half-mile away by nine meters. A guided bullet, however, could get within eight inches of that same target.
Feb 01 2012
The U.S. Navy has moved into full rate production of its underwater Littoral Battlespace Sensing-Glider (LBS-G) program, calling for the manufacture of 35 gliders from a Huntsville, Ala., company.
Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. will make the gliders, with the option of producing an additional 100, under a contract with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command worth up to $53.1 million for 150 units. Teledyne already has delivered 15 gliders to the Navy’s Program Executive Office.
The LBS-G, 8 inches in diameter and 6 feet long, is driven in a saw-tooth vertical profile by variable buoyancy using the ocean’s own temperature and pressure differences and has the ability to move both vertically and horizontally.
The LBS-G can dive to 3,280 feet and has a range of 24,000 miles and a projected endurance for its thermal engine of three to five years. It can navigate using GPS, a magnetic compass, an altimeter, or subsurface dead reckoning. Its sensor package includes conductivity, temperature, and depth modules, and it can communicate via RF modem, Iridium satellite and Argos, a worldwide tracking and environmental monitoring system.
Clayton Jones, senior director for Teledyne Webb Research in East Falmouth, Mass., says the core technology of the glider is “all about the displacement of water around it. When the displacement is collapsing, the glider becomes more dense and sinks; if it expands, the glider becomes less dense and rises.”
A piston pump assembly in the nose cone of the LBS-G functions to change the volume of seawater in the vehicle. The LBS-G has wings that can be deflected to translate some of the glider’s vertical motion to the horizontal plane, so it is effectively flying up or down at an angle in the water. Steering is accomplished through a tailfin rudder.
“The glider might be programmed to sink to 2,000 feet, stay there for 10 days, then rise up through the water column taking measurements of conductivity, temperature and depth,” Jones says. “At the surface, it would transmit its information, then return back down to its assigned depth.”
The glider typically is programmed to submerge, perform a mission, and come to the surface to communicate, Jones notes. It then can be returned to its current mission or sent on a new mission that might be programmed with a series of way points of when to surface and communicate again.
Information from the gliders is useful not only for weather predictions but also for submarine commanders, who want to know where thermal boundaries are located to enable them to better hide their subs from detection.
About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the mystery novel, Full Moon, and several books on historical military small arms.
Jan 02 2012
AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., has added to its successful line of small unmanned aircraft systems — Raven, Wasp, Puma AE, and Nano Hummingbird — with the development of the Shrike VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) system.
Funded by a DARPA contract, the Shrike VTOL offers controllers a portable and stealthy aircraft with persistent perch and stare capabilities.
The Shrike VTOL rotorcraft is able to hover for more than 40 minutes with a high-resolution camera and can transmit several hours of live video as a remotely emplaced perch and stare sensor. Shrike weighs approximately 5.5 pounds, operates so quietly it can go virtually undetected, and is small enough to fit into a backpack.
Jeff Rodrian, AeroVironment’s program manager for Shrike and Wasp product lines, says Shrike is powered by a quad motor design that is similar to other AeroVironment unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with electric motors and lithium-based batteries for flight and other control functions.
“The Shrike can take off vertically and immediately go into a hover for a mission, transition from that loitering mission to land at a separate location to perch, and still receive ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) information, especially video,” Rodrian says, “and then transition back into flight where it can be landed and recovered.”
Rodrian confirms currently the Shrike primarily is using a payload of electro-optical and ISR imagery similar to Raven and Puma UAVs.
“The unique aspect of the Shrike, which uses a digital data link [DDL] transceiver and a hand controller, is that in relay mode you can operate the Shrike from another [DDL] aircraft like the Raven or Puma,” he says.
The range achieved with the DDL typically is 5 kilometers, Rodrian says , but can be extended with the relay capability through a second DDL-equipped aircraft. Shrike’s operational service ceiling ranges from 2 to 500 feet above ground level, chiefly as a result of the optics it carries, though the craft can fly much higher.
Steve Gitlin, AeroVironment’s vice president of marketing strategy, says Shrike is the first rotorcraft introduced into the unmanned aircraft systems.
“True hover, perc,h and stare is what Shrike is designed for,” Gitlin says.
He notes AeroVironment is conducting advanced demonstrations and trials for U.. military forces to showcase the Shrike’s capabilities.
“We want to allow them the opportunity to gain experience with the system and incorporate it into the way they operate, “Gitlin says. “It’s amazing how creative our customers are when we put a new capability in their hands.”
About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the mystery novel, Full Moon, and several books on historical military small arms.
