DARPA's Headless Robotic Mule Takes Load Off Warfighters

Hugh Pickens writes writes "If robots are ever really going to carry the equipment of US soldiers and Marines, they're going to have to act more like pack animals. Now Terri Moon Cronk reports that DARPA's semiautonomous Legged Squad Support System — also known as the LS3 — will carry 400 pounds of warfighter equipment and walk 20 miles at a time also acting as an auxiliary power source for troops to recharge batteries for radios and handheld devices while on patrol. 'It's about solving a real military problem: the incredible load of equipment our soldiers and Marines carry in Afghanistan today,' says Army Lt. Col. Joseph K. Hitt, program manager in DARPA's tactical technology office. The robot's sensors allow it to navigate around obstacles at night, maneuver in urban settings, respond to voice commands, and gauge distances and directions. The LS3 can also distinguish different forms of vegetation when walking through fields and around bushes and avoid logs and rocks with intelligent foot placement on rough terrain (video). The robot's squad leader can issue 10 basic commands to tell the robot to do such things as stop, sit, follow him tightly, follow him on the corridor, and go to specific coordinates. Darpa figures that it's illogical to make a soldier hand over her rucksack to a robotic beast of burden if she's then got to be preoccupied with 'joysticks and computer screens' to guide it forward. 'That adds to the cognitive burden of the soldier,' Hitt explains. 'We need to make sure that the robot also is smart, like a trained animal.'"

Random questions

[Ginger_Chris]

How much can a donkey carry?
How far can a donkey travel for before "recharging"?
How quiet is a donkey? Would the donkey sounds draw as much unwanted attention?
How much money would it cost to pick up a donkey in a local market and then feed it?

So the Big Dog is deployed...

[dbc]

Boston Dynamics has been working on this (and posting YouTube videos) for years. That this exists isn't news. That it is finally deployed, OK, a little newsy, but nobody that follows robotics is unaware of Big Dog.

BTW -- here is a hilarious spoof video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXI4WWhPn-U [youtube.com]
but search for 'big dog' and watch some of the real ones first. Then the spoof - it's a crack up.

Re:Impractical

[DNS-and-BIND]

Donkeys have problems. They need constant food and water (who's going to carry that?) Donkeys need veterinary care. Donkeys freak out if anyone fires a weapon nearby (guns are really loud, in case you didn't know...and you probably don't). Donkeys are intentionally targeted by the enemy and must be protected. This robot has all the advantages of the Terminator. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until the batteries run out.

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[account_deleted]

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Re:wheels

[Nadaka]

Those legs work in more situations than wheels do.