Battle robots
Boston Dynamics robot dog pulls with the French army in the fight
Only Spot looking around the corner, the soldiers follow.
© École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr / PR
Actually, the robot dog should lead a peaceful life, but the French army was Spot as a war dog, in a manoeuvre. Spot managed to save a soldier.
Spot the by the company Boston Dynamics-built four-legged robot is known, the Videos, with its wild jumps are. Now the Spot was used in a military Exercise in France. Thus, the fears be confirmed is that robots like Spot are by no means harmless. The manoeuvre was carried out by France’s top military school, the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr. They also shared the pictures on Twitter. The Tests were described as “the awareness of the students for the challenges of tomorrow,” the robotization of the action belongs to. The Spot was only one of several robots, which were used for reconnaissance missions in support of the infantry.
Photo – so France’s Elite soldiers train for the fight with robots
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Military use is prohibited, actually
Compared to “The Verge” said Michael Perry, Vice President of Business Development at Boston Dynamics, the company didn’t know anything about the application. Spot is no explicit gun, and freely available. He had been delivered from a dealer, Shark Robotics,.
For Boston Dynamics Spots use will be a shock. Originally, the company’s military has developed a robot. In order to obtain a greater acceptance in the commercial sector, the company has set these collaborations. “We want to clearly state that any customer is using the robot to harm people,” said Perry to the Portal. The terms and conditions, it would prohibit the Spot to use “to hurt a Person or animal, or to intimidate, to use as a weapon or to activate a weapon.” The question remains, what are the States in matters of national security of the terms and conditions slow you down, leave. So far, the Spot was only used to enlightenment – but for a fight party.
Slower but safer
During the two-day Exercises of the soldiers played according to the newspaper “Ouest France” several scenarios, including the conquest of a cross, defense actions, and houses for battle. Each Exercise was performed twice. Once only me soldiers, and then together with robots. “Ouest France” reported that the use is hard to assess. The robot would have increased the safety of the soldiers, but overall, the operations slows down, which would have exposed the troops in the reality of other threats. “During the street fight phase, in which we use any robot, I died. But I’m not dead, as we let the robot first, an exploration of conduct,” said a soldier. A Problem that is also of the other military robots known: the Spot was in the use of electricity, he had to be carried.
Complicated Drive
Under the military-used robots, the 31-kilogram Spot stands out because of its design was modelled on a dog, so a living creature. The “drive” with four legs is more complicated than the movement with chain or tire, and it consumes more electricity. The advantage is that Spot can move in rough, rugged terrain, in the wheel-robot come on. Spot can for example jump across chasms. How far is truly a striking advantage, have yet to reveal themselves. For the unarmed tactical reconnaissance of a soldier squads also be used drones. They are far cheaper and smaller than the robot dog, and a lot more mobile. Spots problems with the power supply also suggest that it is unlikely to be possible to equip the robot dog with a weapons module, without changing the Hardware is solid.
Armed combat robot is based on small tracked and wheeled vehicles to be developed worldwide. Usually it is a platform that can be changed by mission modules. The robot can then be transported either Wounded or loads to move. There are combat modules. You will support a group of infantrymen with a firepower that could not lead the people alone.
Small step to Autonomous killing machine
So far, it is semi-Autonomous systems, which are the actual weapons from the control of a human will be released. This is but a threshold that can be lifted with a simple Software Update. Russia is said to have used the battle of robots in real-life battles in Syria. In street fighting to be encountered problems with the data connection of the robot and the battery capacity. Rheinmetall has recently introduced the “wolf pack”, a with a machine-gun-armed module of the Mission, Master, it was shown family.
Sources: Ouest France, The Verge
