/ News
DARPA LS3 Robot Mule Learns New Tricks, Loves a Mud Bath
We heard back in September that the LS3 quadruped robot had gotten some nifty upgrades and was undergoing field trials with the military, and we've just gotten an update about how that's all been going. Short answer: quite well, but for a longer answer, we talked to DARPA. After the jump, we've got lots of good info for you as well as some some brand new video from the testing program, which includes LS3 doing an accidental barrel roll down a hill into a mud puddle.
LS3 is all about solving the equipment load problem: it's not uncommon for soldiers or Marines in Afghanistan to be carrying 100 pounds or more (45 kg) of gear, often over rough terrain, which is hard work and can lead to injury. LS3's primary purpose is to act as a mule, carrying backpacks and other equipment (up to 400 pounds, or 180 kg) for up to 20 miles over 24 hours. Furthermore, it has to do all of this autonomously, without requiring human intervention (if necessary), so that it doesn't just become another hassle that soldiers have to constantly manage.
To that end, LS3, also known as AlphaDog, has been trained to play follow the leader, either in the leader's exact footsteps (well, nearly) or with its own chosen path. LS3 is now able to understand and obey about ten different kinds of voice commands that can be combined in different ways, like "follow," "stop," "sit," "stay," and "roll over." Except not that last one.
A few other new things:
- LS3 now does night ops, navigating between GPS waypoints autonomously with "zero percent illumination."
- In addition to human following and GPS navigation, you can give LS3 a distance and a direction to go in, and it'll obey.
- LS3 can detect vegetation, and can plow through five foot high bushes without also plowing headfirst into rocks.
- The robot now has a noise level of about 70 decibels, which puts it at the passenger car / vacuum cleaner level.
Oh, and it'll also charge iPods and stuff. So that's cool too.
We got a chance to ask LTC Joseph K. Hitt, LS3 program manager for DARPA, how the program has changed so far based on experience and user feedback, and here's what he said:
"The objective of the program is to add value [to a squad]. It's not to do the best perception, it's not to do the best mobility, it's to add value. As soon as you look at the program with that as your key performance parameter, things like like voice commands, perhaps head and arm signals... Or perhaps, through experimentation, adding a leash to this thing, may be more important, because that's what the marines and the soldiers are telling us adds value."
A leash, you say? Interesting, very interesting.
The overall idea here, remember, is to be able to hand LS3 to a Marine company with a "here you go, enjoy!" And that's it. The robot will be undergoing these fields trials every three months for the next two years in all sorts of terrain, and if we're lucky, we'll be seeing lots more videos of LS3 rolling over and doing other fancy tricks on command.
Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/darpa-ls3-program-update
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
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Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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