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Robotics

"Bear" Robot to Rescue Wounded Troops 331

Posted by Zonk from the that-is-just-mind-blowingly-creepy dept.
Jim Hall writes "The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear head to help carry injured soldiers out of combat. The "friendly appearance" of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease. The 6ft tall Bear can cross bumpy ground without toppling thanks to a combination of gyroscopes and computer controlled motors to maintain balance. It is expected to be ready for testing within five years. 'It is also narrow enough to squeeze through doorways, but can lift 135kg (500 lbs.) with its hydraulic arms in a single smooth movement, to avoid causing pain to wounded soldiers. While the existing prototype slides its arms under its burden like a forklift, future versions will be fitted with manoeuvrable hands to gently scoop up casualties. The Bear is controlled remotely and has cameras and microphones through which an operator sees and hears. It can even tackle stairs while carrying a human-sized dummy.'"
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"Bear" Robot to Rescue Wounded Troops More

"Bear" Robot to Rescue Wounded Troops

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  • errr (Score:5, Insightful)

    by geekoid ( 135745 ) <dadinportlandNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:04PM (#19426511) Homepage Journal
    Give the robot a menacing look with red eyes, a gun, 500 pounds of Ammo, and leave the troop home; Also embed an explosive.

    • Re:errr (Score:5, Funny)

      by rlp ( 11898 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:09PM (#19426623)
      Or make it look like a wheeled upside down trashcan with a gun ... and have it yell "Exterminate!".

    • Re:errr (Score:4, Funny)

      by Hoi Polloi ( 522990 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:23PM (#19426869) Journal
      Great, then it turns on us and goes back in time to kill Sarah Conner.

    • Yeah... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Colin Smith ( 2679 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:27PM (#19426947)

      Give the robot a menacing look with red eyes, a gun, 500 pounds of Ammo
      That's the other one. The one they're not telling you about. This one is the one they use to get funding.

      What we need now is for some enterprising journalist to break into the lab, find the other one, be hunted down and killed by it. Then we have an episode of the X files in the making.
       

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by omeomi ( 675045 )
        That's the other one. The one they're not telling you about. This one is the one they use to get funding.

        Will they use this one to go collect the other one if it's damaged? I wonder what the evil one looks like...I hope it has, like, a bunny head with red glowing eyes.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Walt Dismal ( 534799 )
        The bear is actually Mark III. Their first version, the Tinky-winky, was a failure in tests, because its purse kept getting shot off. The Mark II was given the head of Hillary Clinton, but in tests the rescued soldiers chewed their own arms off in fright rather than be rescued by her.

    • why make it menacing? (Score:4, Funny)

      by twitter ( 104583 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:30PM (#19426991) Homepage Journal

      Give the robot a menacing look with red eyes ...

      Why make it look menacing? Imagine:

      RRRRR RRRRRR RRRRR


      Gomer Pile looks up to see what the noise is.
      "Oh look, a panda bear. How cute."
      Bang!
      Poor Gomer.

    • Re:errr (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DoohickeyJones ( 605261 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:38PM (#19427139)
      Heck, even fit the medic-bots with menacing red eyes and 500 pounds of ammo.

      If you find yourself wounded in the middle of a firefight, which will make you feel more comfortable - being carried out by a carebear that wouldn't hurt a fly, or being carried out by something that looks like it will decimate any opposition in its path?

      If I see am wounded in battle and see something that looks like Nemesis from RE:Apocolypse coming at me, I'm gonna have a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest if its on MY side...and a warm, squishy feeling in my pants if it isn't.

      • Re:errr (Score:4, Funny)

        by Captain Splendid ( 673276 ) <capsplendid@@@gmail...com> on Thursday June 07, 2007 @03:09PM (#19427605) Homepage Journal
        No kidding. If a cutesy bear came to rescue me in the middle of a firefight, I'd just assume I'd gone into shock already and death is imminent.

      • Re:errr (Score:5, Funny)

        by NeilTheStupidHead ( 963719 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @04:05PM (#19428601) Journal
        The obvious solution, and the one that will put soldiers the most at ease, is to build a robot with an ample set of breasts.

      • Re:errr (Score:5, Insightful)

        by SydShamino ( 547793 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @04:11PM (#19428695)
        If you find yourself wounded in the middle of a firefight, which will make you feel more comfortable - being carried out by a carebear that wouldn't hurt a fly, or being carried out by something that looks like it will decimate any opposition in its path?

        Actually, I'd rather be carried out of the battle by something with a big Red Cross or Red Crescent symbol on the side, with no offensive armaments at all. While certainly some foes ignore the conventions of war, any foe is justified in shooting an armed piece of technology with an RPG.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by DerekLyons ( 302214 )

        If you find yourself wounded in the middle of a firefight, which will make you feel more comfortable - being carried out by a carebear that wouldn't hurt a fly, or being carried out by something that looks like it will decimate any opposition in its path?

        I'd, personally, feel much more comfortable being carried by a 'carebear' - because carrying me is it's sole job. Stopping to fight means a longer time before I get to safety and medical attention.

        This is also why combat medics (for years) have be

    • Absolutely! It would be our own sharks with frickin' laser beams.

      Although I would keep the friendly benign face. For some reason it seems creepier.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by jdigriz ( 676802 )
      3 laws safe!

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Zaurus ( 674150 )
      > can lift 135kg (500 lbs.)

      Wow. But the last time I checked, 135kg * 2.205 lb./kg ~= 298 lbs.

      Where'd the extra 202 lbs. come from?

  • In other news (Score:5, Funny)

    by HangingChad ( 677530 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:04PM (#19426521) Homepage

    Park rangers report a rash of picnic basket thefts by large robotic creatures with teddy bear heads.

    Aye, Boo Boo?

  • I can see the news headline now.

    So long as it works with the new Hello Kitty Laptop to run it remotely, sounds like a plan.

    I for one welcome our ... what! ... no! get away! ... AAAARRRRRRGGGGH!! (splat) (rend) (growl) ...

  • Awww... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mdm-adph ( 1030332 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:05PM (#19426531)
    ...it's just so cute! Forget more bullets, we'll just disarm our opponents with cuteness from now on.
  • So adorable! I think I would like this robot to carry me to bed every night and tuck me in.

  • Everyone knows that... (Score:5, Funny)

    by trrwilson ( 1096985 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:06PM (#19426551)
    ...Bears are evil killing machines. I can't want to see Stephen Colbert's take on this story.

  • Ohkaayy... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Stanistani ( 808333 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:06PM (#19426553) Homepage Journal
    Yeah, because if I'm wounded, in pain, drifting in and out of consciousness, being picked up by a 6-ft robot bear with hydraulic arms will be so soothing. The teddy-bear head is just the thing.

    Full Metal Panic Fumoffu time.

    • Re:Ohkaayy... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by weaponx86 ( 1112757 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:09PM (#19426613)
      I totally agree. If i'm in the middle of the desert barely conscious and I see fucking bear, I would probably die from shock.

    • I agree with you. I would think that painting a flag on every side, maybe the branch of service emblem, and some cool saying would be better. In a pain induced haze would you be more reassured by a big teddy bear, or a giant chromed-out machine with the stars and stripes on it and the saying "You'll get back!" (variation of the line from Terminator) on the side? You might be confused by the giant robot, but if it has the flag on it, you know it's on YOUR side. I just hope they don't become self-aware.

  • *holds breath* (Score:5, Funny)

    by Odiumjunkie ( 926074 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:06PM (#19426555) Journal

    It is expected to be ready for testing within five years.


    I'm glad they settled on the "bear" look then. Now that that hurdle has been overcome, the only other matter, of designing and building a functional, reliable semi-autonomous bipedal robot, should be trivial.
  • The robot doesn't have the ability to go "Shut the f*ck UP! I'M not going to drop you!!! HOLD STILL!!!"
  • How much can it lift? Summary says 135kb (500lbs), but 135kg would be roughly 300lbs... I'm confused.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by mdm-adph ( 1030332 )
      Make sure and use Imperial kilograms in your conversion.

    • Re:lbs to kg? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by blincoln ( 592401 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:16PM (#19426751) Homepage Journal
      It's the new exchange rate. The US pound has been greatly devalued in relation to the European kilogram.

      Anyway, I see a lot of skepticism about this design, but I think it's great. TFS makes it sound like the robot is designed with a furry brown teddy bear head, but it's more just a friendly robot face. Having been rescued from death (although not the battlefield kind) before, I would say that it's a great idea to have something like that when the people it will be picking up are not thinking clearly.
      • Yup. Because there have never been any horror stories or movies involving friendly looking killer toys or robots =]

        I've had to deal with people during and after physical trauma. They can be extremely irrational and even combative toward anyone that tries to help them especially if their injuries were obtained in a combat situation.

        Speaking personally, my fight instinct gets triggered if someone tries to sedate me. As I start to go under, I have to stop myself from attacking anyone in the room (makes for
    • I guess they expect that some bits and pieces of the wounded solder will fall off along the way, like his head for example.
    • TFA said 227KG/500lbs

  • No need for soldiers (Score:5, Insightful)

    by khendron ( 225184 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:07PM (#19426567) Homepage
    If the thing is so sophisticated that can navigate rough terrain in a hostile arena and carry someone back, why not give it a gun and let it do the fighting? Then there would be no wounded to carry back.

    • Re:No need for soldiers (Score:5, Funny)

      by Odiumjunkie ( 926074 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:09PM (#19426607) Journal
      All we'd need then would be a well-trained team of people to recover damaged robots. If only we could think of a way to make them look non-threatening, so that enemy robots would know not to shoot at them...
    • Because disguising a weapon as a children's toy violates the Geneva Conventions?

    • Re:No need for soldiers (Score:5, Insightful)

      by DingerX ( 847589 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:38PM (#19427135) Journal
      You've hit upon it. That's exactly what they're gonna do. Give that giant teddy bear (how can you call it a Teddy Bear if it don't have fake fur?) a gun and send it out to shoot the wounded. Much easier to program than carry them back. Plus, nobody would ever suspect the teddy bear.

      In all honesty, humans are extremely effective at recovering wounded from hostile zones. They only cases where they are not effective, a giant white Robot with no situational awareness and an inviting teddy bear look would be even less useful, and the support and maintenance would be a PITA. Someone's gonna look at the cost and complexity of this, and decide it's got no battle value.

      Then someone will have lunch with the constructor, and a budget line will mysteriously materialize.

      But, let's be serious: if we ever have an army of hairless teddy bears, then militarism has truly gone mad.
    • If the thing is so sophisticated that can navigate rough terrain in a hostile arena and carry someone back, why not give it a gun and let it do the fighting? Then there would be no wounded to carry back.

      Well duh! Because then it would violate the three laws of robotics! Sheesh! don't you young'uns know anything?

  • Friendly appearance? That thing scares me..

    Also how the hell is it going to balance as some guy flails, kicks and screams because he wants to go and save his friends even though he's lost his legs?
    • Yeah, a teddy bear head is really going to make it look non-menacing. Take your favorite teddy, the one that comforted you as a child. Then imagine someone rips off its head and attaches it to a robot monstrosity. Is it still comforting? Or dreams of childhood turned into hideous nightmares?

      I mean I guess it's better than one deliberately designed to be terrifying (though that would be funny, especially if given an evil robot voice "I am here to save your worthless flesh, meatbag!"), but not by much. I

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by PatrickThomson ( 712694 )
      Not that I'm compelled to nitpick, but how does a man with no legs kick?
    • Friendly appearance? That thing scares me..

      Seriously, that's the first thing I thought of.

      The most creepy things of all are those that are somewhat humanoid, but just slightly-off somehow.
      Like a humanoid robot with a robot teddy bear head pretty much fits that perfectly.
  • i would have figured this thing would have needed a massive battery pack, judging by the description of its functions, but the picture shows only a slight slender thing

  • Sounds like Pedo! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by omnilynx ( 961400 )

    Seriously, there's a reason Pedo-bear is such a popular meme. It's extrememly creepy to see something so supposedly cute doing bizarrly out of context things. Especially when you've got the whole 'uncanny valley' coming into play, with both the robotics and the fixed, glassy stare.

    A much better idea would be to structure the robot as clearly not humanoid, but just as clearly not intimidating. Something like a walking stretcher or the robotic donkey they recently tested. Preferably not with a less-than-use

    • A walking stretcher would be freaky as hell. It would waddle and be menacing like the Abstract daddies in Silent Hill 2. The humanoid figure will seem more heroic once you're used to it.

    • Seriously, there's a reason Pedo-bear is such a popular meme.

      What kind of creepy circles do you hang in? I've never heard that before, and I sure hope I never again.
  • Good Lord, a teddy bear head to comfort the wounded troops? I would think that having anything (including a machine) come and rescue from a combat zone would be 1000x the comfort as the fact it had a fluffy head. And I hope the troops are a little more hard-ass than that. In fact, I'd find that fluffy head a bit disturbing; what kind of freaking mutant Ewok is this? Making it *look* like a forklift would be more reassuring to me.
  • This is a remote controlled walker/lifter -- it's not a robot.

    A robot version of this thing would be truly creepy.
  • ... "teddy bear head to help carry injured soldiers out of combat. The "friendly appearance" of the robot" ... I can see the headlines now...

    In today's news, soldiers across the United States have demanded to have their MRI's analyzed to determine if the United States Government is secretly lacing said MRI's with hallucinogens. Soldiers have reported seeing Tickle Me Elmo, Barnie, The Count, Bert and Ernie during battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military officials declined to comment on these apparitions

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LMacG ( 118321 )
      Meals Ready to Ingest? I think you meant MREs.

  • how comforting (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Programmer_In_Traini ( 566499 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:13PM (#19426695)
    How comforting to know that the robot will be able to pick up my limbs or whatever is left of me carefully. ...but id rather see that budget spent promoting world peace
    • Yes but Putting the money in the robot will actually produce something. World Peace is impossible. Just look at Slashdot, while most of us are geeks, it is these little things that will make arguments and debates go on and run. GPL 3, Vi/Emacs, Mac Fanboys, Linux Zealots, Windows Apologizers... Humans like to argue and to make them feel better about their point of view they like to join other people who share their views, when enough people share their views they feel powerful and yet threatened by oth
  • I'm pretty sure I saw one of these on Afro Samurai.
  • Although not quite the same, The first thing that came to mind when I read the story is seeing This [radicalgeo...derate.org] coming at me as I was laying on the ground injured.

    Not quite a teddy bear, but I imagine the same emotional response to a six-foot tall teddy-bear headed thing... :-)

  • Fake (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They should use real bears.

  • Woman-Bot (Score:2, Insightful)

    by BlueCollarCamel ( 884092 )
    I think a large breasted womanbot would be far more comforting than an evil robot bear, considering they are the number one threat to America...
  • Looking at that thing I don't know whether to be rescued by it, bring it along on a metaphorical journey of self-discovery with a minor oedipus complex, [cyberpunkreview.com] or buy fabric softener from it. [wikipedia.org]

  • Personally.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by tsnorquist ( 1058924 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:25PM (#19426915)
    I'd be more at ease having the Hot Looking Nurse Robot with big knockers carrying me away...

  • thinkofthechildren

    Damnit, bring back the tags.
  • Anyone see the photo? It doesn't look much like a bear, more like a cat. And yeah, it's creepy either way.

  • This seems silly, but it's not. (Score:5, Informative)

    by thesandbender ( 911391 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:31PM (#19427027)
    I worked as a life guard for almost eight years. Most of the injuries were thankfully mundane but there were a few horrific ones that I was witness to.

    You can be as cool or as macho as you want but when you're bleeding out and close to death... all that swagger goes away and you will most likely do anything you can to get away from the pain and your own mortality. This doesn't mean that you'd be sobbing or hysterical but *any* comfort you can find you will cling onto.

    It's also been proven, time and again, that a patients survival rate is influenced by their state of mind.

    So... a "teddy bear" head may seem stupid or silly but it is actually a very well conceived and valid idea. Beyond the patient's needs, there is the very real likely possibility that a "friendly" looking robot is less likely to be attacked by the enemy.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by GeckoX ( 259575 )
      In WWII it was commonplace for medics to ditch their emblems so that they wouldn't be such a high profile target.

      There is no chivalry in modern warfare.

      Think about it: Injured soldier on field, medic coming to rescue. Hmm, let him perform the rescue: Enemy has 2 soldiers. Shoot the medic: Enemy down 2 soldiers, and maybe they'll send another.

      It's morally deplorable, but so is war.

  • ummm (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hurfy ( 735314 )

    It requires an operator, so it is not saving much manpower. Maybe one operator instead of two people to pick up someone? Is it flexible enough to run like hell if shells start dropping nearby?

    If it is not safe to send in the medic then wouldn't this be a good target?

    What happens when it gets shot? The image of it falling with someone in its arms isn't exactly reassuring :(

    Cool design, just not sure of a good use.
  • ...welcome our new Teddy Ruxpinesque robotic overlords.
  • I think the sta-puft marshmallow man from ghostbusters would have been the more surreal choice, esp if they could keep the 50 or so foot height. That might make an even better attack robot though... You would think the military guys would at least come up with a dogs head - afterall, who is mans best friend, a teddy bear (childrens plaything) or a dog?
  • It probably works like those old teddy ruxpin dolls, just take out the "happy" tape and put in a heavy metal tape. Then it will go from "im friendly and helpful" to "I KILL YOU!" and as so many others point out, the soldier can remote-control it from a safe location, i.e. from home.

  • Stole my thunder (Score:3, Funny)

    by sacrilicious ( 316896 ) <qbgfynfu.opt@recursor.net> on Thursday June 07, 2007 @02:44PM (#19427225) Homepage
    The US military is developing a robot with a teddy bear head to help carry injured soldiers out of combat. The "friendly appearance" of the robot is designed to put the wounded at ease.

    Damn! That is SO much better than the prototype my startup has been working on for five years, which has a metal skull for a head and wears grim reaper robes. Teddy bears! Why didn't we think of that?? I mean, we should have realized we were on the wrong path since our prototypes weren't testing well (lots of heart attacks in the focus groups)... boy is my face red.

  • A terminator army is still a while away, yes, but why not disguise the first steps by making them cute and cuddly? A poorly engineered robot army would be a great liability and easily defeated, but a good one would--given the right command and control--be nearly unstoppable. (Or rather, it would be stoppable, but the casualty rates on the opposition human side would be much, much, much higher than on the robot side.) Terminators aren't the next arms race... but that race is coming, and the warm-up laps h
  • I'm sure something along these lines has been said before, but here's an idea. Instead of designing a robot to transport human casualties, how about designing a robot to fight, so it wouldn't have to carry human casualties?

    Just sayin'...
  • n/t

  • One problem: it doesn't walk (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jtheletter ( 686279 ) on Thursday June 07, 2007 @03:33PM (#19427989)
    Notice how all the tenses used in the summary and article are present tense? Except the prototype doesn't do most of the things the article so glowingly describes. The only hint is the "ready for testing in 5 years." And even that is about as weak an assertion as one can make - not production, not deployment, not evaluation, but testing in FIVE years.

    I build military bots, and I love this concept, I've even seen the current prototype. This is something we need and I wholly support the effort but this press release is pure marketing. The current prototype can't walk, and as far as I could tell it can't even stand yet, the prototype has large wheels where the 'knees' are currently.

    I'm sure this story is a calculated attempt to get development money, and that's good, but it's couched in terms that make it sound like the technology is ready to go, which it's not. Five years is a long time, expect lots of program and design changes between now and then, and depending on politics (i.e. military funding) it may get scrapped entirely.

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