US Military Wants Humanoid Robots
By
BrandX,
Posted on: 2012-04-05 20:48 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Surely something like this:
Would be easier to design than a humanoid robot to crew a tank.
Badge Earned: Wing Clipper
A real showstopper!
Yes they did and since that time they have accelerated the programs in these areas.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Forget humanoid robots...
Get a actual working Gundam online and I'll enlist tomorrow just for the chance to do maintenence on it.
Failing that, make this happen:
I've never really understood the desire for 'humanoid' robots. Like spaceship designs with viewports and 'windows' directly linked to space. You're just asking for trouble.
Leaving the 'creepy' factor behind, the solar system's most spectacular killing machines (us) should be able to come up with something more nightmarishly effective than a cheap knockoff.
They ALL float down here. When you're down here with us, you'll float too!
@Starflier
Quote:
Viewports and observation domes, I get. Those are things that are neat, provided they are in an easily contained area.|
Originally Posted by Starflier
I've never really understood the desire for 'humanoid' robots. Like spaceship designs with viewports and 'windows' directly linked to space. You're just asking for trouble.
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What I don't get is the trend in scifi of putting the bridge/command deck in an easily accessible location with viewports. Like on a Star Destroyer or one of the UNSC ships. Compare with one of the Covenant carriers or ships. The bridge is in the heart of the ship, protected by all the armor and shielding. One lucky shot taking out an entire ship versus having to go through the entire ship to get to the command deck.
Why go through all the trouble to make a humanoid robot driver? Wouldn't it be simpler and easier to just make a robot tank?
Goodbye, I guess.
@Lord_Nightblade in Champions/Star Trek Online
nightblade7295@gmail.com if you want to stay in touch
Quote:
Don't forget Star Trek. Bridge is always on the top of the ship in the most exposed area.
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Originally Posted by Dark One
Viewports and observation domes, I get. Those are things that are neat, provided they are in an easily contained area.
What I don't get is the trend in scifi of putting the bridge/command deck in an easily accessible location with viewports. Like on a Star Destroyer or one of the UNSC ships. Compare with one of the Covenant carriers or ships. The bridge is in the heart of the ship, protected by all the armor and shielding. One lucky shot taking out an entire ship versus having to go through the entire ship to get to the command deck. |
Goodbye, I guess.
@Lord_Nightblade in Champions/Star Trek Online
nightblade7295@gmail.com if you want to stay in touch
Quote:
Can you take a robot tank home to meet your mother?|
Originally Posted by Lord_Nightblade
Why go through all the trouble to make a humanoid robot driver? Wouldn't it be simpler and easier to just make a robot tank?
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Didn't think so...
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I personally think most if not all of that stuff they show is to keep people minds off the real stuff they have. |
Originally Posted by Lord_Nightblade
Why go through all the trouble to make a humanoid robot driver? Wouldn't it be simpler and easier to just make a robot tank?
|
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
That was pretty much the point I was getting at.
Ogre tanks are self-aware landships (that use nuclear weapons like they were candy admittedly), surely it would be far easier to develop the brains of the robot and stick it in a tank than to make a humanoid robot which would suffer all the problems humanoid robots suffer...like difficulty with uneven terrain whilst moving at a speed higher than a snail.
Sure there are robots out there like Big Dog but they're designed pretty much as pack mules to carry heavy gear across terrain.
Sure if they've got the humanoid robot down then they can deploy them in places said tank robot can't go but I think we're quite a bit off of that...a lot further off than say robo-tank.
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A real showstopper!
Quote:
One way you have to create a bunch of large armored robotic tanks, the other you make much smaller units that can potentially pilot existing tanks that you already have battalions of.
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Originally Posted by Lord_Nightblade
Why go through all the trouble to make a humanoid robot driver? Wouldn't it be simpler and easier to just make a robot tank?
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Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
-- The Fox and the Hound
The thought behind most humanoid robot design is because the man made world is designed around humans. Cars, buildings, stairs, doors, weapons, tools, etc. So you could have equipment that either a robot or human can use.
What they want is a general purpose robot, sort of the same way that a modern computer is a general purpose data manipulation device. Way back when, the first computers were designed for very specific tasks and were difficult to configure for a different task. When computers became truly programmable, they became more useful to more people.
Same is true here, we could easily build the equivalent of a unmanned drone tank that zips around battlefields while their operators are safe in the US. We could even build semi-autonomous ones that could identify unfriendliness and target them depending on threat and mission with a variety of weapons. However a humanoid robot could be added to a tank crew undermanned, run resupply missions in dangerous areas, go into dangerous situations equipped with the same, well, equipment a soldier/sailor would be wielding (fire crews on ships for instance).
One of the lessons learned about current military robots from the nuclear accident in Japan is they really don't interface well in an environment designed for humans. Door knobs, knee knockers on hatches, valve wheels, location of gauges and control panels, etc. So what do you do, retrofit the world for conventional robots or design robots to handle a world designed around humans?
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We could just call a mulligan on this world and start over somewhere else.
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Originally Posted by Tenzhi
One way you have to create a bunch of large armored robotic tanks, the other you make much smaller units that can potentially pilot existing tanks that you already have battalions of.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Father Xmas
The thought behind most humanoid robot design is because the man made world is designed around humans. Cars, buildings, stairs, doors, weapons, tools, etc. So you could have equipment that either a robot or human can use.
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Obviously given the technology we have today in 2012 it's easier to create purpose-built robotic tanks or airplanes. But clearly those kinds of things have always been considered baby steps towards the ultimate goal of having humanoid robots that could do all sorts of generalized tasks like piloting -any- kind of tank or airplane the same way a human can.
Besides once we manage to download our brains into machines it might be nice to be downloaded into a tank or airplane on occasion but eventually we'll probably want to spend time in robotic humanoid-shaped machines as well. This core research needs to happen regardless.
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It's like no one watched Surrogates!
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Originally Posted by Lothic
Exactly.
Obviously given the technology we have today in 2012 it's easier to create purpose-built robotic tanks or airplanes. But clearly those kinds of things have always been considered baby steps towards the ultimate goal of having humanoid robots that could do all sorts of generalized tasks like piloting -any- kind of tank or airplane the same way a human can. Besides once we manage to download our brains into machines it might be nice to be downloaded into a tank or airplane on occasion but eventually we'll probably want to spend time in robotic humanoid-shaped machines as well. This core research needs to happen regardless. |
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
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Why not? Think they may go renegade?|
Originally Posted by Lord_Nightblade
Why go through all the trouble to make a humanoid robot driver?
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A renegade driver. A ROBOT renegade driver!
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Originally Posted by Lord_Nightblade
Wouldn't it be simpler and easier to just make a robot tank?
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The Bacon Compels You.
Quote:
There's also - kind of skimming the military uses - the consideration that some of these robots would be working alongside humans. It's one thing to have (say) a small, tracked "robotic" thing looking at IEDs and sweeping for mines - if it blows up, darn, you lost some equipment. You don't want to feel "comfortable" with it. |
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
The thought behind most humanoid robot design is because the man made world is designed around humans. Cars, buildings, stairs, doors, weapons, tools, etc. So you could have equipment that either a robot or human can use.
What they want is a general purpose robot, sort of the same way that a modern computer is a general purpose data manipulation device. Way back when, the first computers were designed for very specific tasks and were difficult to configure for a different task. When computers became truly programmable, they became more useful to more people. Same is true here, we could easily build the equivalent of a unmanned drone tank that zips around battlefields while their operators are safe in the US. We could even build semi-autonomous ones that could identify unfriendliness and target them depending on threat and mission with a variety of weapons. However a humanoid robot could be added to a tank crew undermanned, run resupply missions in dangerous areas, go into dangerous situations equipped with the same, well, equipment a soldier/sailor would be wielding (fire crews on ships for instance). One of the lessons learned about current military robots from the nuclear accident in Japan is they really don't interface well in an environment designed for humans. Door knobs, knee knockers on hatches, valve wheels, location of gauges and control panels, etc. So what do you do, retrofit the world for conventional robots or design robots to handle a world designed around humans? |
On the other hand, with some of the uses being considered for robots (think 24 hour nurse, "companion" for the elderly, etc.) a humanoid form - aside from the convenience FatherXmas mentioned - is less "alien" (or more "comfortable" or accepted) than a purely designed-for-function robot would be.
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As long as they keep the robots out of the Uncanny Valley, sure. Otherwise you end up with a bedside companion that freaks grandpa the hell out.
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Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
On the other hand, with some of the uses being considered for robots (think 24 hour nurse, "companion" for the elderly, etc.) a humanoid form - aside from the convenience FatherXmas mentioned - is less "alien" (or more "comfortable" or accepted) than a purely designed-for-function robot would be.
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Goodbye, I guess.
@Lord_Nightblade in Champions/Star Trek Online
nightblade7295@gmail.com if you want to stay in touch
Quote:
But that's the criteria i used for selecting the nurses anyway.|
Originally Posted by Lord_Nightblade
As long as they keep the robots out of the Uncanny Valley, sure. Otherwise you end up with a bedside companion that freaks grandpa the hell out.
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While it would be simple enough to fit the gear required to automate a tank or other vehicle into the space formerly occupied by a driver/pilot, or even make the whole unit smaller because the control system actually requires less space and comfort, it's quite true that human scaled and shaped frames will work in the existing environment far easier. Besides, i want replaceable robotic chassis for myself at some point.
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
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Quite. My mum's going into hospital for dual hip replacement soon and is having to hobble around painfully on sticks.|
Originally Posted by Schismatrix
Besides, i want replaceable robotic chassis for myself at some point.
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Had a weird dream about building her a powered exoskeleton that let her chase down crooks - with a little fire engine red, of course. She was Iron Gran...
Is it time for the dance of joy yet?
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I can't wait for the birth of the Adeptus Mechanicum...
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Originally Posted by DreamWeaver
Quite. My mum's going into hospital for dual hip replacement soon and is having to hobble around painfully on sticks.
Had a weird dream about building her a powered exoskeleton that let her chase down crooks - with a little fire engine red, of course. She was Iron Gran... |
For the honor of the regiment!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_%28tank%29
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......To control their vehicles. Didn't they learn anything from Terminator 3?
http://news.yahoo.com/us-military-wa...213045632.html