-
Tech NewsDARPA’s Crazy Mind-Controlled Prosthetics Have Gotten Even Better
We’ve known for a few years now that DARPA-funded prosthetics research is yielding some pretty incredible technology. We’re not talking incredible in the robotic cheetah sense. We’re talking incredible in The Incredibles sense of the term. Specifically, DARPA is literally building superheroic technology that enables amputees to control prosthetic limbs with their minds, and it’s … Continued
-
Tech NewsDARPA’s Using Smartphone Guts to Build Cheaper, Smarter Drones Faster
Just a few weeks after President Obama announced plans to scale back the country’s drone program, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA) announced plans to roll out a program for the rapid development and manufacture of sensors to help power unmanned aerial, land and underwater vehicles. The specific technology, the Defense Department says, will … Continued
-
Tech NewsBowling with God: Vint Cerf Talks Time Travel, Porn, and Web Addiction
They say that success has many parents but failure is an orphan. Judged by that standard—or any other—the Internet is a success. Al Gore invented it. Tim Berners-Lee got a knighthood out of it. Everyone was using it before it was cool. But only two men have ever borne the title “Father of the Internet.” … Continued
Jeff Jetton and Erik Stallman -
Tech NewsDARPA’s Web Warrior Support System Helps Soldiers Hoist Heavy Loads
It’s not as exciting as seeing Big Dog or Petman in action, but infantry in the US Army should be happy now that DARPA’s begun testing its Warrior Web support system. One day robotic exoskeletons will allow humans to easily lift and carry hundreds of pounds, but for the immediate future DARPA has set its … Continued
-
io9DARPA’s new robotic hand can lift kettlebells as well as tweezers
It can also palm a basketball, pinch a BB-pellet, manipulate a cordless power drill and withstand being cudgeled with a freaking baseball bat… which… well… most hands can only do two of those things. The hand is part of DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (Arm-H) program, and a collaboration between robotics company iRobot and Harvard and … Continued
-
Tech News
DARPA’s Robot Hand Is Almost as Capable As What’s on Your Arm
Gone are the days when we could look at cutting-edge robots and at least take some satisfaction in the fact that the human body was still superior. It seems like DARPA is getting closer and closer to outdoing Mother Nature, this time with its ARM-H robot hand that’s as impressively dextrous as it is cheap … Continued
-
Tech News
DARPA’s New Tiny Night Vision Camera Could Give Every Soldier Sight In the Dark
DARPA-funded DRS Technologies, Inc has developed a new 1280 x 720 night vision camera with pixels just five microns across—that’s reportedly just one-twelfth the size of a human hair. So. Small. The new tech isn’t just way more practical, it could save the government a bundle of money, too. The military uses sophisticated thermal infrared … Continued
-
Tech NewsWatch DARPA’s Robot Arms Perform The World’s Slowest Pit Stop
Replacing fighter planes and reconnaissance aircraft with robotic drones turned out to be a far easier task for the military than replacing soldiers with bots. But DARPA remains determined to one day enlist robots for all military jobs, and among other research, it’s working hard to develop a relatively low-cost set of artificial arms and … Continued
-
io9
The Pentagon Wants a Computer That Can Teach Itself
In an effort to pick up the pace of research and development in AI, the U.S. military’s advanced concepts research wing is launching an initiative to design automated tools that will make it easier to not just program computers, but to help computers teach themselves. DARPA is not happy with the way machine learning is … Continued
-
Tech News
CMU’s CHIMP Will Save Lives Where Humans Can’t Monkey Around
The Fukushima Daiichi meltdown and other recent disasters like Deepwater Horizon highlight a very real need for robotic first responders that can operate in inhospitable environments. In response, DARPA recently issued a Robotics Challenge addressing the issue. Here’s the design that Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (CMU NREC) hopes will take home the … Continued
-
io9BigDog can now throw shit like it’s nobody’s business
As if Boston Dynamics’s robotic pack mule wasn’t terrifying enough, its designers have, in their infinite wisdom, equipped it with a throwing arm. But not just any kind of throwing arm. This thing’s a total cannon — one that would make Peyton Manning jealous. Check out the video and watch BigDog toss a cinder block … Continued
-
Tech NewsFloating Swarm Bots Form Emergency Bridges, Runways, and Islands
Teamwork is a new concept in the field of robotics, but the idea of creating hundreds of cheap disposable robots that work together to complete a greater task has a lot of promise. So far swarm bots—as they’ve come to be known—have successfully tackled problems on land and in the air. But now DARPA wants … Continued
-
Tech NewsWatch the World’s Highest Resolution Drone-Mounted Camera in Action
Sure, your phone can take a decent picture, but it’s not even in the same universe as the best camera the government’s got. At 1.8 gigapixels, the DARPA-developed ARGUS-IS the highest resolution surveillance platform in the world, and, when mounted to a drone, can single-handedly do the work of an army of 100 predator drones … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
DARPA Plans To Scan Puppy Brains To Find the Smartest Dogs for War
War dogs. They are equal parts badass and cute. And on top of that, they’re smart. They need to be to get the job done. In the interest of finding the cleverest canines for potential war-doggery, DARPA’s got a plan to start scanning puppy brains in an MRI machine. But rest assured, those brains are … Continued
By Eric Limer -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightThis Is How DARPA Will Strip Old Satellites for Parts
There’s a bunch of junk orbiting the Earth right now, a bunch of junk that we put there. But not all of the old satellites that are zooming around the planet are totally useless; plenty still have good stuff in them that could be reused and DARPA wants to start mining them. The project is … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech NewsDARPA’s SeeMe Satellites Are a Soldier’s On-Demand Eye In the Sky
While UAVs have joined spy satellites as an indispensable part of America’s military operations—especially in delivering timely, accurate intel to troops on the ground—they are not the end-all-be-all perfect solution, even in coordination. That’s why DARPA plans to supplement these unmanned intelligence gathering platforms with jet-deployed constellations of micro-satellites. Soon, every grunt will have access … Continued
-
Tech News
DARPA’s Super Sniper Scope Is the World’s Deadliest Range-Finder
Snipers are among the most valuable assets a military can deploy in battle and have become a pillar of modern US counterinsurgency tactics. While mile-and-a-half-long shots are possible, they’re not all that common. But with DARPA’s new One Shot XG scope system, any ol’ Killroy will be able to accurately fire an M24 up to … Continued
-
Tech NewsThe World’s Scariest Robot Now Listens to Its Human Master
There’s nothing on the planet that’s equal parts terrifying and spectacular quite like DARPA’s LS3 “Big Dog” robot. It has the horrific realism of an actual dog, mixed with the horrific robot quality of… a robot. Now it’s even more powerful. In the latest demo, DARPA shows Big Dog with some new tricks. Instead of … Continued
By Sam Biddle -
io9DARPA builds the Imperial Probe Droid from Star Wars, basically
DARPA’s next big terrifying project? A hovering V-bat drone with one massive claw, perfect for ripping the skin of villainous rebels. Watch as the new creation does it’s best Imperial Probe Droid impression from Empire Strikes Back. The V-bat can hook up with GPS and deliver one-pound payloads to stranded subjects just about anywhere (thanks … Continued
-
Tech NewsDarpa Wants To Pump Wounded Soldiers Full of Foam For Safe Transport
Quickly stabilizing a wounded soldier and getting them off the battlefield is vital to their survival. But with internal injuries prepping a patient for safe transport is extremely complicated. So Darpa’s Wound Stasis System program has funded the development of an injectable foam that stops internal bleeding and stabilizes organs so a soldier can be … Continued