While we know technology is getting more and more advanced but this really puts things into perspective. It seems in recent times the US Air Force has decided to start using something pretty interesting to make their rounds within reasons.
According to CNN last week the Air Force used these robot dogs as a means of scouting for threats before humans move forward themselves. While this might not sound like much it could really help us better understand where the future is headed when it comes to warfare as a whole. We’ve heard news of robot dogs like these being used for a lot of different things as of late and that just highlights how potentially widespread their use could become on some levels.
CNN wrote as follows on all of this:
The electronic canines are just one link in what the US military calls the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS). It uses artificial intelligence and rapid data analytics to detect and counter threats to US military assets in space and possible attacks on the US homeland with missiles or other means.
Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said on a future battlefield, soldiers will face “a dizzying array of information” to assess and will need to rely on data synthesis done in nanoseconds to fight effectively.
“Valuing data as an essential warfighting resource, one no less vital than jet fuel or satellites, is the key to next-gen warfare,” Roper said in an Air Force news release on the ABMS exercise.
The latest ABMS exercise, from August 31 to September 3, involved every branch of the US military, including the Coast Guard, plus dozens of teams from industry, and used 30 locations around the country.
Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada was one of those, and that’s where the robot dogs came into the mix.
“The dogs give us visuals of the area, all while keeping our defenders closer to the aircraft,” said Master Sgt. Lee Boston, a member of the Devil Raiders, the nickname for the Air Force’s 621st Contingency Response Group, said in the Air Force release.
The dogs are called Vision 60 UGVs, or “autonomous unmanned ground vehicles” by their manufacturer, Ghost Robotics of Philadelphia.
It touts their ability to operate in any terrain or environment while being adaptable to carrying an array of sensors and radios on, for a dog robot, a fairly simple platform.
“A core design principle for our legged robots is reduced mechanical complexity when compared to any other legged robots, and even traditional wheeled-tracked UGVs,” the company’s website says.
I know technology like this seems to scream ‘Black Mirror’ but as of right now there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong or dangerous going on. If anything it’s much better to use these than to push forces forward into situations that might get them hurt or worse. The more we can use these robotic dogs the better, honestly within reason.
The Express reported as follows breaking things down a little further:
The Vision 60 is designed for tasks including remote inspection, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, mapping, distributed communications, and continual security.
Exact details about the specific technologies tested on the Vision 60 robots used during the ABMS exercise are unsurprisingly scarce, given the sensitive nature of their role.
However, images appear to show various configurations, some with a pair of antennae on its back.
As you can see below, this is an interesting looking robot and while it does have four legs, it doesn’t actually look much like a dog at all, does it? That being said, while it is something being used by the Air Force it is somehow kind of cute, isn’t it?
(Image Credit: USAF)
To learn more about these interesting robots take a look at the video below. Aren’t they interesting? As you can see, they get around just fine and could truly be changing the future.