Marine Corps Wants a Throwable Robot 270
coondoggie writes "The US Marine Corps has a request — build and rapidly deploy more 10lb-or-under robots its personnel can throw into dangerous situations that can quickly gather information without endangering Marines. The throwable robot is part of a family of robots that would range from the 10lb version to one that would act as a central controlling device and weigh close to 300lbs. Marine commanders are demanding ever lighter robots so that troops don't have to offload critical equipment from their rucksacks to accommodate them."
U R Doing It Wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
The robots should be carrying the equipment and throwing each other.
The marines should be making the decisions and dodging the other guys robots.
Re:10lbs...throwable? (Score:5, Insightful)
how far can you heave a 10lb weight into a situation that you can't see directly in front of you?
Further than I would want to throw myself if we're talking about into a room with a lot of angry men with guns. Also, I'm not in the same shape a marine would be, I'd expect a marine would be able to throw a 10lb weight further. The article specifically mentions "can see around corners inside buildings, sewers, drainpipes, caves, courtyards" so corners, not distances, and it sounds kind of like they're looking into remote controlled after being thrown.
Yet another rash judgement from someone didn't even RTFA, let alone knows the full story. But lets not let trivial details like facts we don't know stand in the way of our statement that fully half our military budget is completely dispensable.
(For the record, I'm a liberal and also dislike the amount we spend on the military. It's not that I'm biased in favor of dumping all our money on the military, you're just making us look dumb.)
Re:They should send in a giant robotic dog (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually sounds more like a hand grenade [wikipedia.org].
Re:But that's against the law... (Score:4, Insightful)
"But that's against the law..."
"Law", unless sufficiently backed by force, is merely an expression of wishful thinking.
yes, less military spending (Score:3, Insightful)
because the world is a pleasant campfire singalong, and no ones means any one else any wrong
as russia tries to claim the arctic, engages in neoimperialism in the caucasus, as china ramps up its military spending, as myanmar tries to get nukes, as north korea has them, as iran tries to get nukes, as venezuela ramps up military purchases of heavy armament, etc., etc.
yeah, its a world of love and good will. no need for a serious military, you're a genius
Re:They should send in a giant robotic dog (Score:3, Insightful)
yeah beacuse the US army, don't kill enough innocent civilians and obviously don't need a way to find out if there are women/children in there (cowering or as hostages)!
Re:They should send in a giant robotic dog (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah that's the idea, but you could also have smaller guide wheels to help stabilize it (because weight/pendulum based still limits it's drive power, ie: too much throttle it'll just sit there rotating) so it looks like
O.
and if you used the "launcher" the guide wheels could be spring loaded, so they collapse into the main cylinder but pop-out after it leaves the barrel, which would also be useful for quick 180 degree views (throttle it, flips over but stops because of guide wheels) instead of making it turn 180 degrees, just have a sensor that tells the camera/software to flip the image vertically.
Could probably make them as small as a tear-gas can, so pretty much every soldier could carry one, or one guy could carry 20 of them, it's not like they have to run for hours, or defuse a bomb.
Re:U R Doing It Wrong (Score:1, Insightful)
The robots should be carrying the equipment and throwing each other. The marines should be making the decisions and dodging the other guys robots.
Nah, you are the one doing it wrong. The goal here isn't to save lives, as there are plenty of naive and poor kids in USA you can recruit on the cheap (compared to the cost or a "robot army" utopia). The reality is US troops often lack basics such as a decent protective gear, robots are very far from being on their mind. So when you see the kind of priorities that come out of their leadership, think contractors and think money, you'll be closer to the general idea.
Re:Cognitive dissonance, thy name is liberal (Score:3, Insightful)
How a liberal, who generally is in favor of bigger government, can rail against the waste that is endemic in a big government
If you think liberals are in favor of "big government" for it's own sake, you've really confused partisan slander with reality.
We're for expanding effective programs and cutting the waste. It's only confusing if you don't realize that not everyone thinks that all government spending is inherently wasteful.
What say you put YOUR life on the line, and then tell others they are spending too much to protect you, hmmm?
You're being a simpleton. Not all military spending goes to protecting our soldiers.
Re:cutting waste is a noble goal (Score:3, Insightful)
How is percentage of GDP the relevant measure here? The US is richer than most other countries; we already knew that. No matter how much money we have, the question to ask is "how much should we spend on X to get what we need" (whether X is defense or something else) not "what percentage of our wealth should we spend on X?" If you make ten times as much money as someone else, it does not follow that you have to spend ten times as much money on your house, your car, and everything else.
Re:cutting waste is a noble goal (Score:4, Insightful)
How is percentage of GDP the relevant measure here?
We have more to defend, and a larger stake in global politics/stability?
Bigger stick == better?
Just guessing.
I don't see how spending FOO * Scary Nation Defense Budget BAR makes any sense. What if there are several Scary Nations and Bad Countries?
I think military spending should be greater than the combination of all 'OTHER' country's military spending, but within your means. OTHER being anyone we don't trust right now. Are we spending within our means? ~5%, I guess so. Who is OTHER now? Do you trust them enough to cut back?
Re:They should send in a giant robotic dog (Score:3, Insightful)
To get 72 virgins?
Re:They should send in a giant robotic dog (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:They should send in a giant robotic dog (Score:3, Insightful)
Look, I don't so much of an issue with the rest of your post, but IMO the statement below shows a clear misunderstanding of the socioeconomics, politics and culture in the areas where these things are occuring - it sounds nice, but means nothing in the real world.
" Simple way to reduce civilian casualties: The civilians stop ALLOWING the terrorists/enemy to hide amongst them, and they will stop dying."
It doesn't make much practical sense either, you're saying that the unarmed, downtrodden families are supposed to stop the armed ruthless thugs? Is that it?
That's like when someone who doesn't understand the drug issue talking about getting dealers off the streets:
"Hey, if the people who lived in north Philadelphia didn't allow drug sales to occur there'd be no drug sales in our neighborhood."
My point is that it's just not that simple.