The US government is testing two small tactical robots from rough-terrain robot pioneer Boston Dynamics whose movements are based on those of a flea and a cockroach. The Sand Flea jumps high into the air to avoid obstacles, and the six-legged RHex easily crawls around on rough terrain.
The Army Test and Evaluation Command will begin assessing safety, reliability, and performance of three RHex robots, followed later this year by similar tests on Sand Flea models. Funding for the evaluation of both robots is coming through the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF).
The six-legged RHex robot moves like a cockroach over a wide variety of rough terrain, and can climb telephone poles and stairs. (Source: Boston Dynamics)
"Small, very mobile robots will deliver stand-off and reconnaissance capabilities in rugged terrain that current robots can’t provide," said Boston Dynamics' vice president of engineering Robert Playter, in a press release.
Once safety evaluations of the robots have been completed, the Rapid Equipping Force plans to deliver nine Sand Fleas and four RHex for testing in Afghanistan. "The mission of the REF is to find innovative solutions to meet pressing problems in theater, and to do it fast," said Gary Frost, chief technology management-REF.
The four-wheeled Sand Flea began life as the Precision Urban Hopper, an earlier collaboration between Sandia National Laboratory and Boston Dynamics that was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).
Given everything you've written about, Ann, mechanical earthworms that burrow are bound to happen. There must be some mechanism earthworms use to move through hard earth. Maybe it's the slime.
Sounds like a good read, Ann. One thing I find interesting about about T.E. Lawrence is how he died. After all the war danger, he dies in a motorcycle accident going to his mailbox.
gsmith, glad you liked the article. I assume your underwater scenario is for the RHex cockroach, not the Sand Flea? I agree, that would be a great video to see.
Regarding war and technology, I'd forgotten about the suggestion to use nukes in Nam--that would have been insane. And yes, 9/11 is a good example of a lower tech enemy trumping a high-tech nation. Interestingly, the Lawrence of Arabia biography I read recently points out that Lawrence's work fighting the Turks with the desert Bedouin pretty much started modern guerilla warfare, especially the use of explosives, in the Middle East. A mixed blessing. I highly recommend the biography--"Hero" by Michael Korda--for the history of the times as well as for the info about Lawrence.
Great article and I really enjoyed the video. I would love to have seen it in action underwater. I can see this technology being used in underwater search and recue or recovery.
I just saw a web posting of a robotic creature that could jump up onto buildings and then jump off of them and get away. It was quite impressive, and it would certainly be a handy tool to deal with rooftop snipers, both for fighters and the police. But for dealing with IED challenges the directed energy device will probably be the solution in that it is able to detonate the weapon while it is still being transported, but if accidently directed at an innocent party they just experience a hot flash. That feature will save a lot of lives, I hope. I am not permitted to divulge any more information.
You make a really good point that it's not always technology. I think Vietnam was lost because of restrictions on engagement (and thank goodness for those limitations). It was suggest we use nukes in Vietnam, which certainly would have altered the outcome. So technology could have won -- as horrible as that would have been.
Another example to support your point of low-tech advantage in war was 9/11. The enemy confiscated our technology and succeeded with a willingness to kill civilians.
As for the earthworm, I was just postulating. And I enjoy very much your articles on biomimicry.
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