IRobot, best known for their cute Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, has teamed up with Metal Storm, purveyors of the million-rounds-per-minute electric gun, to create a slick, Terminator-like war robot for the U.S. military.
The as yet unnamed war bot is being marketed for "border patrol" and "crowd control" scenarios, although other military situations are also under consideration.
"We want our soldiers to have the option of controlling a robot that could go ahead and investigate, engage or deter an enemy and not put human soldiers at risk," said a spokesman for Metal Storm who wished to remain anonymous.
This new war bot will likely soon join the existing ranks of military robots deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The U.S. military has used various war bots, from both iRobot and its competitor Foster-Miller, for years, primarily to diffuse bombs and other unexploded ordinances.
The first armed robots appeared in Iraq in 2007 as part of Foster-Miller's SWORDS program. They were armed with M249 light machine guns and received limited service in Iraq.
Since then robot armaments have increased. The Metal Storm/iRobot robot can be equipped with a variety of weapons, from non-lethal rubber bullets to grenade launchers. As many as 12 different Metal Storm weapons can be put onto the iRobot platform at the same time, said a Metal Storm spokesman.
The difference between Metal Storm weapons and other guns is the firing mechanism.
Traditional guns rely on a firing pin to physically strike the flat end of a round resting in the firing chamber, creating hot gases that propel the bullet down and out of the gun barrel.
A Metal Storm gun however, fires the bullets electrically, not physically. Pull the trigger and an electrical charge from a battery is sent down the barrel of the gun, triggering the chemical reaction that sends a bullet flying.
There are no moving parts (besides the bullet) and multiple bullets fit into a single gun barrel, letting the gunner fire much faster than traditional firearms. Metal Storm claims their weapons can fire (theoretically) up to a million rounds a minute.
While Foster-Miller might lack an exotic firing mechanism, their robots still pack plenty of fire power.
Their latest MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System) robots can carry anything from pepper spray and laser dazzlers to 40-mm grenade launcher or a M240B medium machine gun. Foster-Miller delivered their 2,000th war bot to the military earlier this month.
Perhaps even more important than weaponry is durability.
"[The robots] can take a beating," said Robert Quinn, an engineer at Foster-Miller. "Some of our robots have been blown up 10, even 15 times, and they still work."
If a warrior robot is damaged in battle, the military has a system in place to repair them. A network of seven robot hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan keeps wounded war bots healthy.
Robot warriors might be armed, sent into battle, and even wounded like humans, but they lack the most important aspect of a warrior (and for doomsday scenarios): intelligence.
All of the robots are controlled remotely by human soldiers to keep their comrades safe in threatening situations. There is no artificial intelligence on board.
"Our soldiers know when they are facing a threatening situation," said Quinn. "In those circumstances they would like to send a robot instead of a human so the humans can remain safe."
"This is trying to give a team of soldiers a 'tenth man' that is expendable to enemy fire," said Quinn.
No comments:
Post a Comment