Robotics Blog » military robot

Military’s Secret X-37B Robotic Space Shuttle Returns to Earth

Dan — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 20:10:35 +0000

Originally a NASA project, the X-37B became the military's secret unmanned space shuttle in 2004. When the X-37B launched last April, no one knew what was really going on. Foreign media saw the launch as a signal of space militarization. Officials say the spacecraft is undergoing testing.

Petman Bipedal Robot Prototype by Boston Dynamics – Video

Dan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:46:18 +0000

This bipedal, walking robot is Boston Dynamics latest creation. It’s closely related to their BigDog robot, but only has two legs so it walks like a human.

Petman is shown walking at 3.2MPH and uses human-like, heal to toe walking motions. It also has some stability, just watch it recover from being pushed in the video below!

The goal is to recreate how a human walks, so chemical suits can be stress tested. Petman is “the first anthropomorphic robot that moves dynamically like a real person.”

Another amazing robot from Boston Dynamics, the same company who made the original land version of the sand robot we wrote about earlier, and BigDog.

PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot for testing chemical protection clothing used by the US Army. Unlike previous suit testers, which had to be supported mechanically and had a limited repertoire of motion, PETMAN will balance itself and move freely; walking, crawling and doing a variety of suit-stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents. PETMAN will also simulate human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating when necessary, all to provide realistic test conditions.

And it wasn’t easy to build, either: it took 13 months to design and an additional 17 months to build! That’s two and a half years!
[Boston Dynamics]

Ember Military ‘LANdroid’ Robot Video Update

Dan — Sun, 31 May 2009 01:14:26 +0000

'Ember', is their book-sized autonomous robot made for the LANdroid program.Ember's ad-hoc network maintains communication between soldiers on the battlefield.

iRobot’s Tiny ‘Ember’ Bot Creates an Ad-Hoc Network for Soldiers.

Dan — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:02:37 +0000

One of Ember's duties is to keep soldiers in communication. In urban environments, buildings and angle of incidents between wireless devices can greatly affect signal propegation. LANdroids are tasked with autonomously seeking a position that keeps the network alive, while still maintaining other missions objectives