So cool it deserves it’s own thread.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-07/wildcat-robot-could-be-running-into-battle-soon/5002356

That thing can really move.

Looks like one of its gaits is modeled after a horse’s..

Mind you, if it was a horse, with that malconformation you’d shoot it!

Impressive mover, but I can’t see that surviving an rpg. Or even a good swift kick.

Wildcat? I’d liken it more to a sheep.

Bubblecar said:

Impressive mover, but I can’t see that surviving an rpg. Or even a good swift kick.

Then it would be Wild Cat Falling, I suppose.

Bubblecar said:

Impressive mover, but I can’t see that surviving an rpg. Or even a good swift kick.

There is video of one being kicked, it responds a bit like an animal trying to regain its balance and you feel a bit sad for it.

Here you go: Wildcat boston robot gets bullied kicked and punched

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auywGtQq5J0

morrie said:

Bubblecar said:

Impressive mover, but I can’t see that surviving an rpg. Or even a good swift kick.

Then it would be Wild Cat Falling, I suppose.

Probably easier to get that cat thing to survive a RPG attack than a human.

You could arm one of those with a couple of metal storm guns and send it in to kill people. So much more civilised than chemical weapons.

A hand grenade rolled under it would blow its legs off.

morrie said:

You could arm one of those with a couple of metal storm guns and send it in to kill people. So much more civilised than chemical weapons.

If we were civilised we’d settle disputes solely between robots ;)

morrie said:

You could arm one of those with a couple of metal storm guns and send it in to kill people. So much more civilised than chemical weapons.

Well you can aim and fire metal storm at specific targets, which is not something you can do if you release clouds of gas.

wonder if one day there will be an RSPCR?

it also mentions they are building a metal man too

you might have to use that rpg to knock him down – if you can get the accuracy and hope he hasn’t spotted you and fired first

he can call to a fellow machine to snipe at you / ambush you as you set up your attack on him

small anti personnel mines probably won’t stop a metal man

the infantry soldier is about to go the way of the cavalry horse

Fee said:

wonder if one day there will be an RSPCR?

Not inconceivable. I think Harlan Ellison has written a story about programming a computer by teaching it via the feedback of computer generated pain. Or how about animal computer cyborgs using pain modification. They are already wiring up cockroaches.

It’s weird, seeing the wildcat being bullied put my compassion chip into overdrive. Not that I am a radical, I shan’t be racing off to wave a placard or running awareness programs

wookiemeister said:

the infantry soldier is about to go the way of the cavalry horse

I think there is a place for them for a long time yet. Humans are smart. But we will see some specialties. Armies used to have saddlers, now they will have robot tecks. Gonna sound all wookie but I can see a small squad approaching a village and as a matter of course the pointman unloads his swarm of disposable nano bots that fly all over and report back via RFD or summat presence of explosives, heat sources, vibrations. Next they send in a recoverable football sized robot to zoom in on what the nanobots found to provide fidelity.

And the reason why the grunt will be around for a while yet is all of these can by gamed and decoyed by the intelligent human at the other end.

Skunkworks said:

wookiemeister said:

the infantry soldier is about to go the way of the cavalry horse

I think there is a place for them for a long time yet. Humans are smart. But we will see some specialties. Armies used to have saddlers, now they will have robot tecks. Gonna sound all wookie but I can see a small squad approaching a village and as a matter of course the pointman unloads his swarm of disposable nano bots that fly all over and report back via RFD or summat presence of explosives, heat sources, vibrations. Next they send in a recoverable football sized robot to zoom in on what the nanobots found to provide fidelity.

And the reason why the grunt will be around for a while yet is all of these can by gamed and decoyed by the intelligent human at the other end.

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

wookiemeister said:

Skunkworks said:

wookiemeister said:

the infantry soldier is about to go the way of the cavalry horse

I think there is a place for them for a long time yet. Humans are smart. But we will see some specialties. Armies used to have saddlers, now they will have robot tecks. Gonna sound all wookie but I can see a small squad approaching a village and as a matter of course the pointman unloads his swarm of disposable nano bots that fly all over and report back via RFD or summat presence of explosives, heat sources, vibrations. Next they send in a recoverable football sized robot to zoom in on what the nanobots found to provide fidelity.

And the reason why the grunt will be around for a while yet is all of these can by gamed and decoyed by the intelligent human at the other end.

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

in Australia the grunt has to have his family put up in digs, the dentists the clothing, the subsidies, the pension that goes on for years

its a financial drain, then you’ve the psychologists and complaints about being sent to war.

you send the robots in

a robot can be programmed to hit specific targets, you have men back behind the lines sending messages to the robots, safe from attack.

wookiemeister said:

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

A squad might soon only be managed by one man, but the squad is robots and the man is in an airconditioned office half a country away.

Skunkworks said:

wookiemeister said:

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

A squad might soon only be managed by one man, but the squad is robots and the man is in an airconditioned office half a country away.

to be effective you’d have one man to 50 machines

these machines could walk, run crawl into battle

the drones would explore the area, buildings etc and send info to the HQ

Skunkworks said:

wookiemeister said:

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

A squad might soon only be managed by one man, but the squad is robots and the man is in an airconditioned office half a country away.

to be effective you’d have one man to 50 machines

these machines could walk, run crawl into battle

the drones would explore the area, buildings etc and send info to the HQ

wookiemeister said:

to be effective you’d have one man to 50 machines

these machines could walk, run crawl into battle

the drones would explore the area, buildings etc and send info to the HQ

Well I don’t know about numbers and I am not as certain as you on capabilities, multipurpose in high tech does not have a good history. I think it would be more a system of systems. My squad was based on a commensurate increase in lethality, in that a robot squad would be able to accomplish what previously would take an entire company. That includes the sensor capabilities to cover the same amount of ground and embedded air to a degree, maybe not complete superiority which would remain an Air Force function but local lethality in having the equivalent of a squad predator or two.

wookiemeister said:

wookiemeister said:

Skunkworks said:

I think there is a place for them for a long time yet. Humans are smart. But we will see some specialties. Armies used to have saddlers, now they will have robot tecks. Gonna sound all wookie but I can see a small squad approaching a village and as a matter of course the pointman unloads his swarm of disposable nano bots that fly all over and report back via RFD or summat presence of explosives, heat sources, vibrations. Next they send in a recoverable football sized robot to zoom in on what the nanobots found to provide fidelity.

And the reason why the grunt will be around for a while yet is all of these can by gamed and decoyed by the intelligent human at the other end.

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

in Australia the grunt has to have his family put up in digs, the dentists the clothing, the subsidies, the pension that goes on for years

its a financial drain, then you’ve the psychologists and complaints about being sent to war.

you send the robots in

a robot can be programmed to hit specific targets, you have men back behind the lines sending messages to the robots, safe from attack.

And the response? A handful of terrorists can be programmed to hit specific targets too. Like people in a shopping mall.

morrie said:

wookiemeister said:

wookiemeister said:

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

in Australia the grunt has to have his family put up in digs, the dentists the clothing, the subsidies, the pension that goes on for years

its a financial drain, then you’ve the psychologists and complaints about being sent to war.

you send the robots in

a robot can be programmed to hit specific targets, you have men back behind the lines sending messages to the robots, safe from attack.

And the response? A handful of terrorists can be programmed to hit specific targets too. Like people in a shopping mall.

yes but they are cheap and conform to no law

morrie said:

wookiemeister said:

wookiemeister said:

get rid of the man he requires to be fed and when injured requires you to get him off the field, he’s expensive. then you’ve got the PENSION

in Australia the grunt has to have his family put up in digs, the dentists the clothing, the subsidies, the pension that goes on for years

its a financial drain, then you’ve the psychologists and complaints about being sent to war.

you send the robots in

a robot can be programmed to hit specific targets, you have men back behind the lines sending messages to the robots, safe from attack.

And the response? A handful of terrorists can be programmed to hit specific targets too. Like people in a shopping mall.

yes but they are cheap and conform to no law

15yo hacks military robot, goes on killing spree.

you have an entire battalion of robots

you use these robots to quarantine an area, you don’t need to fight street to street, a siege.

you’d use these robots to cut logistics lines in a war.

it would impossible to approach without taking massive casualties

you could parachute these things into action and take control of roads and passes. nothing goes in nothing comes out without being examined

sure you could send in car bombs but so what, you could just put another robot in

if they want to take Afghanistan this would be the way to do it – machines