MILITARY & INTELLIGENCE 23.09.2015
Spot, the most advanced prototype combat robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics, a company owned by Google, finished testing with the US Marines last week.
Ben Swilling, a roboticist with Boston Dynamics operates “Spot”, a quadruped prototype robot, during a demonstration at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., Sept. 16, 2015. Employees of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency trained Marines from the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab how to operate “Spot”.
Spot, the quadruped, electrically operated all-terrain battlefield device walks on four hydraulically actuated legs. It weighs about 160 pounds.
A human operator controls the robot wirelessly from a distance of up to a third of a mile using a laptop equipped with a radio transmitter and a video game-like controller.
The new Boston Dynamics’ military robot underwent testing alongside other devices as a part of the Marine’s battlefield robotics evaluation program at their base in Quantico, Virginia. The project is supported by Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Spot has been tested on various missions, including entering buildings, that require peaking around corners and searching for possible threats using its advanced sensors. Besides urban terrain, the robot has proven to operate in woodlands and hills.
The exact timeframe for battlefield robots joining the active ranks of the Marine Corps remains unspecified, while research and development continues.
sputniknews.com
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